Tue Dec 30 10:03 EST 1997
Helen Metcalfe's Birthday today (12/30)

Today is my mother's birthday.  I know which one.

Being a December baby myself, I know what it is like to be overlooked
or underappreciated because my birthday comes in the Christmas season.
But I think being born between Christmas and New Years is far worse.
All the Christmas and New Year's parties dampen any desire for
celebrating someone's birthday.  Combination gifts are all-too-common.

So I would like to take a moment to honor my mother on her birthday;
to tell her that I love her and appreciate all that she has done for
me and our family.

Mom bore four boys, and she bore us throughout our adolecence, too,
though I confess I don't know how because we were more than a handful.
She was the Valedictorian of her class at Eastern Nazarene College.  She
told us that she never knew what a C looked like until she had kids.
I showed her plenty of them in my school career.  Sorry mom.

Since before I was born, mom taught English in high school and later
at the  college level, though she never got me to stop saying "hunnert"
instead of "hundred."  Her teaching supplemented a preacher's income;
perhaps even bringing in more than half in the early years to provide
the family with clothes and food and other good things.

Yet she was committed to supporting her husband's career, uprooting
and moving whenever his call brought him to a new church. She also
supported the church playing the piano, and often working in
several positions of leadership and responsibility.  Whereever we
would move, she always found another teaching job because
her talent was remarkable; her credentials impeccable.

I remember some of her students speak about her.  They would say that
"Mrs. Metcalfe is hard" (sometimes) "but I always learned from her."
They viewed her with admiration and appreciation for enriching their
lives. Even Gus Macropolous, (who told me his English teacher was a
witch -of a sort- before he knew he was speaking about my mother),
grew to really appreciate the gift of knowledge she gave to him
and his fellow students.

Although she wasn't my high school teacher I thank her for all she
taught me and I am glad to call her mom.  Some of what she has done
over the years were genuine sacrifices of love for God, husband, and
family. Thanks, mom, and Happy Birthday!

Love,

Mark

(P.S. Birthday greetings can be sent to eflactem@aol.com.)
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          __    _____|         Mark Metcalfe           |_____    __
_________|  |__|    :|   Cadence Design Systems, Inc.  |     |__|  |_________
\       :|  |::|    :|         (978) 446-6451          |     |::|  |,       /
  \     :|  |::|    :|      metcalfe@cadence.com       |     |::|  |\_0__,/
    >   :|  |::|    :|_________________________________|     |::|  |  M <
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