I am in Toronto for my mom’s (Sandra) 80th birthday…which is today .

I have not been to Toronto in over two years so it is great to finally visit.

Ellen and I grabbed some Bagel World bagels and we had a nice breakfast at her apartment.

We had a Seinfeld type Uber experience on the way as our driver had a nasty body odor. While we planned to ask the driver to wait, we bolted out and figured we would get another driver after picking up bagels. I never give less than 5 stars but was forced to because of the odor. Ten minutes later we ordered another Uber as we left Bagel World and sure enough our 3 star driver was back. He had never left the spot and the Uber app kept serving him up.

As for my mom, I am sure it was a rotten, lonely year locked up mostly in her apartment.

Ellen finally got my mom set up on my blog so she can read my daily email. She refuses to get an iPhone (she uses a flip phone) and finally has a small iPad. She caved on the iPad to make reading the obituaries a little easier.

It is nice to be in my mom’s morning reading routine :).

My uncle Jeff (my mom’s brother) shared this photo of my mom from when she was 6 or 7 walking with her parents, my grandparents (Pearl and Harry) on the streets of Toronto.

Today we take so many pictures with our iPhones that I take it for granted what a photo like this can mean from the 1940’s. I can’t remember seeing a photo of my mom as a child.

Happy Birthday mom. I hope year 80 is a good one.