May 1st was the last day I saw juncos, those little caped birds that mean winter is here. They all left at once, and on the first day of May. The cat birds have come back and the rose breasted grosbeak, so it really must be spring. Thursday was Cinco de Mayo and that always makes me think of my last days at IBM. It was on Cinco de Mayo that still another offer of an early departure from IBM came around. This one seemed to be made for me. You had to be a certain age, 49, you had to have 9 years of work at IBM and you had to be willing to "bridge" for 6 years until the time you would have had a total of 15 years, which was the earliest you could retire at.

Cinco de Mayo, my last name at that time was Ciancanelli, so I kind of sang Cinco Ciancanelli, a few times, and e-mailed my manager that I wanted to take this last offer. Who wouldn't? IBM was going down the toilet, grown men were crying in their offices, the older workers were hiding in bathrooms to avoid the talk with their manager about taking retirement, the young workers were afraid that they would be the first to go. Rumors were all over, this department was going to Texas, this one was being dissolved. No problem, Cinco Ciancanelli is going out the door. Oh, my manager tried to talk me out of it. They had just put me through three years of programming school, wanted to get their money worth, and of course I was an older woman, one of the statistics the government liked to see in corporations. But I took the bridge. My last day the main desk called me that I had flowers, and I went there to find who would have sent me something on my last day. Sure enough, it was Maria, with a note that said"To Ma, the Captain of her ship". As I returned to my office, one worker seeing the flowers said, "Did you get a promotion?" "No," I replied, "I'm leaving -it's my last day." And it was one of the best feelings I ever had.

It turned out to be a good decision in so many ways. And the money I got up front paid for a big house in Cape Cod that I rented for three weeks, with everybody we knew coming and going.

Then there's Mother's Day. I would be told to stay in bed - the kids were going to make me breakfast. My bedroom is right over the kitchen, so I could hear the fighting and arguing, while I waited. Then they would come up with a tray...a dishcloth covering a pizza pan, a cup of tea, toast with jelly in a little cup, and flowers in a small vase, usually apple blossoms from our apple tree. Then they would all sit on the bed and watch me eat. The toast was cold, but I ate it, the tea too sweet, but I drank it and when I was finished, they said "We're starving - can you make us crepes? Happy Mother's Day everybody.