Birthdays have been a fun touchstone to our past (as we grow older), even as they started out as benchmarks of our futures (as we anticipated gaining another year as kids). They may be raucous and eventful: parties, cake and ice cream, gifts, friends, games, and so on. (Brief aside: what's the appeal of cake,ice cream and punch served all together? Too much sugar; I take either cake or ice cream, and with water, no punch please). They may also be quiet, reflective, a chance for solitude and taking stock of where we've been and where we're headed. Some birthdays stick in our memory years later, others must have been 'just another day' as little as they are recalled now. So today, let's talk a bit about memorable birthdays we've had.
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| Waaay at the back, 11th. birthday in Missouri |
For my part, the first birthday I recall was my 4th. Mainly because I remember receiving a View Master viewer and accompanying Huckleberry Hound reels. My 9th. birthday was spent at the movies, seeing "The Love Bug". At 11, I was in Missouri visiting relatives; they gave me a fishing pole and I spent the afternoon fishing in the Merramec River.
For birthday16, my parents arranged a surprise party, and practically all my friends were there. I should have suspected: my comic book pal had asked me to accompany him to the bookstore that afternoon, and it wasn't new comic day...
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| My boys helping me with the candles... |
At 21, my college friends helped me 'imbibe a few'. At 27, I had my first birthday as a parent, and got those first cute cards from the little ones. Still have those around here somewhere.
There have been many others, some I remember well, others have faded. How about you; any birthdays that really had an impact? Memorable gifts, guests? I have a summer birthday,so never had school on my big day. But never had a class party either. How about you? Grab a piece of cake and unwrap your stories for the rest of us...
13 comments:
Not for nothin', but it's Canada's 150th birthday today!
Flip through an old Alpha Flight and kick back with a beer, eh?
-david p.
Best wishes and greetings to our noble Northern neighbors!
Ha! Red, I'm gonna out you (just 'cause I believe you'll take it well)--
I have inside info that it was Red's 51st birthday just yesterday, so let us ALL WISH HIM A HAPPY ONE-DAY BELATED NATAL DAY, eh, yes? Wooooo-hooooo!
My own birthday is in early December, so as a kid it was always right on the edge of getting absorbed by the Christmas season-- which I've honestly embraced over the years. The burden that my poor wife bears so bravely and selflessly is that the Holiday Season in our household pretty much starts as soon as Halloween candy shows up in the stores-- particularly for my daughter and I. So a HUGE swath of the latter part of the year is given over to the holiday cascade of Halloween, Thanksgiving, my Birthday, and then Christmas-- New Year's is bittersweet, 'cause that's when we take everything down and put it away. Plus we're usually exhausted.
There was one birthday when we'd moved into our first house, but before we had kids ('91 or '92?), where it was my Birthday, and, due to work demands, my wife simply was not going to have time to get home for dinner, let alone bake and decorate the cake she had in mind. So I did go ahead and make my own (delicious) cake, and decorated it with a falsely-indignant "Happy Flippin' Birthday to ME!!" written in icing on top. And the full round of laughter that gave her was a gift she needed far more than I did on that particular day-- and even though it was just the two of us, and there was no special celebration in store on that particular birthday, it's clearly one that sticks with me.
And heck, in '87 she threw me a surprise birthday party during the holiday break of a national tour I was doing, pulling in folks from across a wide range of our acquaintances in DC (thus far), which totally caught me. No idea. A nice "get-together" type party at her group-house that she orchestrated, that was simply lovely. So she pretty much hit her quota for life with that one, as far as I'm concerned.
Hmmm-- I think we're about due to do something big like that for her, in fact. This is an excellent reminder. . .
HB
HB, I'm sure Redartz is older than 51 - but happy birthday if it was your birthday yesterday, Redartz...or can we call you Robert on this special occasion :)
Happy Birthday Red from a fellow Hoosier! It's been a pleasure meeting you and corresponding!
Cheers, Joe
Ah, HB, you caught me! Yes, yesterday was my birthday, although it was number 57 rather than 51 (but thank you, you're so kind)! Thanks all for your good wishes, thanks for your comments, and thanks for your friendship (which, of course, is how I consider our gregarious group). And Colin, yes, you can call me Robert, or redartz, or Red, or 'hey you'... :)
Colin- great 12th. birthday! A gift from Mother Nature in the form of a snow day. Excellllent.....
HB- love your cake tale. Impressive baking ability- I can manage, but my culinary results aren't pretty.
Charlie- thanks, and the pleasure is likewise!
Happy Birthday Red! Hope it was a good one.
My own birthday memory was Age 8. My birthday falls in late October so usually it had a Halloween theme. We didn't have parties usually but this particular year my mom invited my friends to a costume party. Somehow all the kids got the bright idea to sharpen the pretzel sticks with our teeth and pop all the balloons my mom had filled. Ha. My mom still remembers it. "Never again" she would say. Two hours etched in family infamy.
Cheers all.
Well, Happy Birthday Redartz! Don't worry, 57 isn't so old ... at least you're not as old as Canada :)
Happy birthday, Redartz - and many, many more!
AH-HAHAHA--- I did lose track of whom was connected to which birthday, didn't I? COLIN, there, turned 51 this year, whereas Red-Robert's (there's yet another interesting codename variation, eh?) birthday was the one we had yesterday.
Aye, thanks for gettin' me straightened out. (Heck, I even knew that we were about the same age already--)
Looking ahead at the calendar, this year's birthday is going to be one with no wife OR kids on -hand due to college and pre-scheduled business trips, etc. Hmm-- I am MORE than capable of indulging myself in an 18+ hour binge-watch marathon of some series I've been putting off, ordering take-out, getting an entire Tuxedo Mousse Cake from Costco, and calling it a DARNED successful celebration-!
HB
HB for the win!
My kinda Birthday.
And Happy belated Mr. Redartz!
Thanks Marti, Mike, Edo and Killraven for your kind comments! They are very much appreciated.
Marti- Halloween and birthday; a fantastic combination. And you gotta admire the creativity of all those pretzel nibbling kids...
HB- mighty cool birthday plan there. You'll be the life if the party!
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