Happy Birthday, Mim!

Subj: Mindwalkers - Happy Birthday, Mim!
Date: 4/7/01 12:11:40 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Mim made her debut on the world stage on April 7, 1944. When my mother was told she had a granddaughter, she said, "Not possible - Kay only has boys."

The nurse called her "Little Missy" which we started using as a nickname, later abbreviated to Mimmy by Ian, and ultimately shortened to the current Mim. Do you know anyone who calls her Joann?

We were delighted to have a girl and her two big brothers were proud as punch. It was Peter who said that immortal line to me - "She will be your little hand maiden."

Mim was no one's hand maiden.

From the very start, she was different from any other baby I had known - she actually laughed. Not just a smile, but an out and out laugh. I have never seen another baby do that. Mim was aware of what was around her and connected in her own way.

Of all my children, Mim was the one who knew what she want and knew how to get it. It did not matter to her that girls did not play football - she coached her own peewee football squad when she was in her early teens. Mim's Monsters. Where other girls asked for jewelry for Eighth Grade graduation, Mim wanted a tarpoline and frame to make a big tent in our back yard. Other high school students spent the summer by swimming pools; Mim spent it working with kids, the highlight being a 4 day - 3 night overnight camp right in our own backyard, complete with a full schedule of crafts and sports and so many other activities.

Mim does things in her own time, not anyone else's.

It took her almost fifty years to pick a middle name (we gave her just the initial "K"); she chose it in time to have JOANN KIERNAN LOCKHART inscribed on her Master's in Social Work degree from Rutgers. Mim had received her bachelor's degree from New York University, part of a pilot night school program for older (she was 36), non-traditional students; she commuted from Bryn Athyn! Mim has always set her own timetables, known her own mind, what she will do and what she won't, and remains true to her beliefs.

She spent today with friends near her central New Jersey home, a joint celebration - Mim's birthday and the Seder. Very Mim.

Mazel tov to Mim from Mom!

Love to one and all - Mimmy's Mom