Happy 90th Birthday, Sonja

Sonja Behnke Festerling with the penguins

Today, September 7, my mom, Sonja Behnke Festerling, would have been 90 years old. It is hard to believe that it has been nine months since she died.

September 7 is yet another 1st for me without her. Her birthday! Mom loved celebrating, and she loved her birthday. Maybe because my grandmother, Rose Behnke, made such a big deal over each of our birthdays, Mom kept the tradition going. Even as her memory of days and months slipped away, she always knew what September 7 was. Each morning, we would have her read the date in the newspaper. And each year, I would hold my breath. Would this be the year she would not have any reaction to the date? Thankfully, that never happened. Mom stopped knowing my birthdate or that of anyone else a few year before. But when I would ask her, “Hey Mom, do you know that today is so and so’s birthday?” she would get so excited. Sometimes, she would even have me call them up so she could sing them Happy Birthday.

I recorded many of those times on my phone. A few weeks ago, I made sure that all my recordings of Mom were saved in the cloud. I might have mentioned this before, but I am so glad I took the time to record Mom, and now I can listen to her anytime I want. Nine months without my mom. Will it ever get any easier?

Here is a picture of Mom on one of her last adventures when she went to March with the Penguins.

Happy Heavenly Birthday Mom!

Stephanie Fleming

Stephanie Fleming was raised at Behnke’s Nurseries in Beltsville. Her Mom, Sonja, was one of Albert & Rose Behnke’s four children. She was weeding from the moment she could walk and hiding as soon as she was old enough to run, so many weeds, so little time. Although she quickly learned how to pull out a perennial and get taken off of weed pulling duty.