Happy Birthday to Three Special Dark-Haired Beauties

This is my mother (in her engagement photo, if I remember correctly), and today is her birthday.  She is an amazing woman, a person with spunk and enthusiasm and energy to spare.  In fact, we have dubbed her the "Energizer Bunny," because she never seems to run out of steam.  At 77, she's still running rings around most of us.  And she's beautiful, too.  I don't just mean that in the "she was a beauty back in the day" kind of way.  She is still so beautiful and vibrant and youthful.  Until she hit her late 60's she hardly had a gray hair on her head--everyone assumed she was coloring it, but it was entirely natural.  We should all be so lucky to age as well as Mom has.

Here is a more recent photo of my mom, this one taken last year on her birthday.  As you can see, she's still--to use my father's favorite description of her--very CUTE, isn't she?  (The crown adds a nice touch, too.)  And she's very young-looking, don't you think?  77 is the new 45, I believe.

And coincidentally, the beautiful young lady on the right is my younger sister, who happens to share a birthday with our mother.  She must have been the best birthday present Mom ever got!  In this photo, she's celebrating the big five-oh--but the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, and she looks much, much younger.  I guess 50 is the new 29.

As if having a mother and a sister who share a birthday isn't enough, my lovely daughter-in-law was also born on this date!  That makes three brunette beauties in my family who were born on September 30.  This is a photo of her with my oldest son, on their wedding day almost three years ago.  Isn't she a doll?

How extraordinary that God decided to give the world (not to mention our family!) these three special souls--who are every bit as beautiful on the inside as they are on the outside--on the very same date!  Here's wishing this trio of dark-haired beauties the happiest of birthdays!