by Shinazy
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear, Linda, Marlene, and Kitty . . . WHAT ? !!!
When it came to celebrating our birthdays, my younger sisters and I became triplets. Our mother altered birth certificates so each of us could enter kindergarten by the birth-date cutoff. (Why no one questioned this statistical oddity is another story). Every year three little faces puckered lips and blew. I never revealed my birthday wish, but I knew it would someday come true because, in the presence of all that wind, every candle was extinguished.
My sisters and I were born under the Sagittarius sun sign - with Christmas only a few weeks away. As each birthday passed, I closed-in on that wished-for December date - my true, single-birth day. A birthday where I was the center of attention…no sharing. I’d be the only birthday girl smiling for the flash bulbs and the cake would appear decorated with one name . . . mine.
The first time my wish came true was on my 30th birthday . . . Yeah . . . Great. I was 30, the age-defining split second of becoming a member of The Establishment. It was official; I joined the You-Can’t-Trust-Anyone-Over-30 crowd. For three decades, I imagined a joyous celebration of my very existence, instead, I was blinded by candles commemorating that I was OLD.
As the other hallmark birthdays passed: 4oh, 5oh, 6oh, I shared the occasions with other Sagittarians, while imagining a celebration, which became more elaborate. The great thing about imagination is everything is possible. One year I invented a party at the North Pole where the aurora borealis was my personal candle light. Even in this fantasy, when it came to candle-blowing time, I wished that next year the deep exhale would extinguish real flames.
A few Decembers ago, I decided to combine my birthday with my honey’s, who was born in February. The perfect gift was for us to go away for the weekend and experience something new – births are new, birthdays should be new. Off we went to overnight in the lighthouse on East Brother’s Island. We’ve repeated sharing our birthdays every February, staying at a different lighthouse. This February as we drove to the Point Sur Lighthouse, my sweetee turned to me and said, “Here you are again, sharing your birthday.”
Yes, Sharing … The best way to celebrate a birthday.
photo by Aih
Birthdays are curious markers of the passage of time. I recall working with a woman who always took her birthday off...and made a point of celebrating her birthday for an entire week. I also have family members who would not consider it unseemly for a parade (including the brass band) to assemble each year on Main Street to mark the momentous occasion of their birth. In contrast, I view each birthday as just another day...only marking that I am a year older (something to celebrate, as it beats the alternative).
ReplyDeleteIn the month of December my calendar shows 13 birthdays, good thing several of these folks also treat their b-day with less fanfare..I’m grateful ;-)
DeleteI have a b'day right after Christmas and I've made it seperate and special in many different ways. Some of those times sharing it with one of my daughter who's b'day is just after mine. Sharing is the best part of living.
ReplyDeleteSharing with your daughter is special, we are most fortunate that our girls like to hang with their moms.
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