Happy 80th Birthday, Lottie

Little Lottie in the play yard

laughter lingers there

The sisters in their big black habits

look on your curls so fair

Grab your cycle little Lottie

bounce down red cobbled streets

Take this package to the soldier

then get yourself some sweets

Skate upon the ice filled pond

before the castle grand

Wooden clogs make super ice skates

with mittens on your hand

Your Lord in Heaven watches Lottie

as you grow and bloom

You soon will meet your husband and

you’ll be a bride and groom

So live and love life, dear Lottie

raise children of your own

Fill your days with joy and laughter

that fill your happy home

Your time on earth is just a taste

Of what someday will be

For all the things which made you smile

will fill eternity

So dance and sing as in your youth

let happiness abound

Where laughter lingers in the air

Our Lottie will be found

I have written these lyrics in tribute to my mother, Charlotte, on her 80th birthday. They describe the earlier part of her life when she was a young child in Heusden, Belgium attending a Catholic school. They further make mention of her riding her bicycle to deliver the laundry to the German soldiers that her mother had carefully washed and ironed. In exchange, "Lottie" would receive coins which she in turn spent on candy for herself and her siblings. They soon learned that they could resell the candy for a profit! After the Battle of the Bulge, her family was transported to the refugee town of Celle, Germany where Charlotte loved to ice skate on the pond which stretched before the castle.

The rest of the story is self explanatory. She met my father, a soldier in the United States Air Force. They married and she traveled to the United States. They raised a family and lived out the American dream. Her life has been blessed by the Lord. As she turns 80, she has much to look forward to on this earth and in heaven.

Happy 80th Birthday! Mommy

Lottie as a child in Belgium

1948 Celle, Germany