My Mother's Birthday!

Today would have been my mother Mary's 104th birthday, if she were alive today.  She and my father Nelson moved to a condo complex called the Monterey Yacht and Country Club in Stuart, Florida, back in 1976, and they just loved it there.  Fortunately, the City of Stuart would not allow the complex to dredge the St. Lucie River to allow them to put in a marina, and so the waterfront along the river remains a peaceful respite to this day, just a few minutes walk from the condo.  I took the photograph on the left of my mother posing by the St. Lucie and the complex's pier on a visit to Stuart back in March of 1996.

My father Nelson passed way in 1983, just 7 years after my parents moved there, but at least he and my Uncle Bill (my mother's brother, who also lived at Monterey with my Aunt Elsie) had a few years to play golf together on the complex's 9 hole course, like they used to do when on vacation in Canada. My mother continued to live there for almost 30 years, and my sister Susan and I would often travel down to Stuart together to visit.  The photograph on the right I took of Susan and my mother in front of Jack Baker's Lobster Shanty, where we had dinner at least once each trip.  We always went to the early bird - as I remember, it was critical that we arrived there before it ended - and we usually walked around the marina in front of the place afterwards. Sadly, the restaurant was destroyed by one of the 3 major hurricanes that hit Stuart in 2004 and 2005.  I still want to get back to Stuart when Susan and I feel we no longer have to rent the place out for financial reasons. Hopefully that will be sooner rather than later.  And why are Susan and my mother posing like they are in the photo?  Just one more question that will never be answered.