Happy Birthday !

Age: 20
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FEBRUARY 13,
1909- 2008
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DEAR MOM,
YOUR BIRTHDAY, 100 YEARS
since you first showed the world your
beautiful face, your bold spirit.
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Look at that girl! Still ready for fun,
ready for dreams...
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I salute the 99 1/2 years that you lived in this world.
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You'd never say no to a toast, so here's to the girl, my Mom,
who was born in Czarist Russia, made her way across rolling
seas at the age of 12 to the gold paved streets of New York,
and never looked back.
The name they gave you at Ellis Island eventually became
an interesting anecdote.
When I placed your name on the Wall of Honor, on Ellis Island
so many years later, you as Yetta Lam, who should have been Lem,
sit in the midst of a sea of Chinese immigrants, the only girl
from a shtetl so honored.
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Your artistry in painting, your skill as a designer, informed me,
probably just handed me some very rich DNA. Hopefully,
years also, like you.
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Sometimes a bit too direct?? Too demanding?? That war is over.
Just love you a lot now.
Funny how that happens.
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So bless you Mom. It was meant to be.
Happy Birthday!

Age: 15