Our entire family gathered in Fort Worth, Texas on February 10 last month to celebrate my mother’s 100th birthday. Linda and I flew in from Maryland, my brother John and his wife Mari Pino came from North Carolina, our daughter Amy came from Illinois, our son Marc and his wife Stacey and our granddaughter Ford came from Los Angeles, our nieces Mirabel and Lydia came from Chicago and Charlotte, our niece Tracy and her children came from Frisco, Texas, and our niece Leslie and her children who live in Fort Worth joined us as The Stayton where my mother, Nancy Salmon, lives. We celebrated her birthday with a piano recital by my brother John Salmon, who is a piano professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and has given concerts on four continents as a classical and jazz artist.

About 100 of my mother’s friends were in attendance for the recital, along with about 20 members of her family. My niece Leslie joined John for the last piece of the recital in a piano duet of “Tea for Two.” Before that last piece, John played selections from Bach, Chopin, Scarlatti, Dave Brubeck, Richard Rogers, and a composition written by our grandfather, Hugh Cameron Campbell Salmon, titled, “Child’s Evening Prayer.” On back tables in Sundance Room John offered copies of his books and compact discs he has recorded, and I offered copies of my books in the Spelunking Scripture Bible study series, as well as my books Preaching for the Long Haul, The Barefoot Eulogist, and Storytelling in Preaching.

After the recital, we had a family dinner in The Stayton Skyline Dining Room, with a birthday cake provided by my nieces Tracy and Leslie, who are the daughters of my late sister, Carol. Tracy and Leslie’s father, John Sharpe, joined us, along with his wife, Patti.It was a chance for the six cousins, my mother’s five granddaughters and one grandson, to reconnect, and a time for all of us to express our appreciation for the “birthday girl,” now 100 years old.

Although we were able to be together for only a couple of days, it was a celebration that we will always remember. We thank God for the gift of family, and for the ties that bind us to one another.