This is my birthweek
September 23, 2015
Optimistically I hatched an almost plan to celebrate the whole month, like some of my friends who love life do. Just an “almost plan”, because that thought was as far as I got. In part to make up for my lack of enthusiasm in previous years, and in part to add to my new habit of doing small good money things each day.
It’s been half a decade since I felt comfortable with my birthday and it was nothing to do with age. For a few years, in my 20s, it was actually even fun. I shared the week with a dearly departed uncle. Then one year, he fell ill. It seemed like a small thing, until it wasn’t. I hoped, and hoped, and hoped that we’d have a miracle. But we didn’t. Then our birthweek became the week of losing him. And it’s just never felt right since.
Even when I’m not fully cognizant of the reason, a malaise sets in around 2-3 weeks before the actual day and I spend that whole time trying to convince PiC to cancel everything, when “everything” is hardly any more taxing than having dinner because I can’t think of my birthday with joy without being reminded of our joke that I was “4 days older than Uncle”, and it feels like my breath is sucked away as I remember he’s gone and it’s not fair.
We weren’t close close, not talk on the phone every other day and finish each other’s sentence close. But we were kindred spirits. I admired and respected the hell out of him and he recognized me as one of his sort, seeking my back-up in faux-arguments and treating me with an easy warm fondness unique to him. Above all, he was a good man who’d made good for his family and I wanted nothing more than to match his example.
That’s my whole trouble with anniversaries and special dates. The big ones tend to remind me of those I’ve lost, more than anything, and I haven’t been great at turning that around.
But each year I try again. We’re only given so much time and I’m trying not to waste what we have by forgetting to live while mourning, grieving rather than remembering.
There’s a lot more I want to do and each birthday is a reminder to get off my duff and do it.
I don’t usually ask for anything for my birthday but this year I will: would you share a fond memory or a fun thing you’re doing?
1. Taking time to read at night. Chicklit or whatever.
2. Letting BB run around butt naked only in the living room & spending that time connecting with my partner & BB (the surprise poos are fun)
3. Sleeping longer…
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Mm.. reading and sleeping. We just got one of those surprise poos… !
My aunt’s Pat’s birthday is today! She’s turning 70, and has made the whole year of it. Her mother, my grandma Lee, her birthday was September 9. When i saw these two women together, who share a birth month, I never saw more than a child should see. But i imagine, from stories that my aunt tells, that my grandmother was way more adventurous and fun to be around than was let on. G-ma Lee passed on when i was 17. This year, my cousin Alan, (who is Aunt Pat’s son,) and his wife had a baby on September 9. so a fitting tribute to my grandmother getting a great grandchild named after my dad (well, a middle name at least).
My own birthday is 12/23, and NO ONE gets to forget about it. This year I turn 50 and i am full of “PARRRTAYYY” and “f-off world” more leaning to f-off the closer it gets. but you asked for memories of happy, and so I found pictures of my birthday parties that included my Aunt Pat.
Pat used to be a model in the 60s. In 1965, she was Miss Colorado, (in the Miss Universe Pageants) and in 1966 a runner up. She taught me how to walk in high heels and put on make up properly so i didn’t look like I had just escaped Clown College.
I hope your birthweek turns out better than you think:D Happy Birthday!!!!
Happy belated to your Aunt Pat! What wonderful people you’ve had around.
Udon noodles.
Body butter.
Saturdays spent entirely in PJs.
Happiest of birthdays =)
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<3 Thank you!
Happy birth week! Dressing the family in penguin costumes. My oldest son’s idea. Originally it was just number one and number two, but it seems my husband and I need to waddle alongside them š
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Fantastic! š
I remember as a kid, when my brother and I would visit our dad, he’d take us to Chinatown for special occasions. We’d get this big old carton of fried rice from our favorite spot and go to one of the grocers in the area that would clean and fry a fish straight from the tank where they were swimming. We’d take these goodies (buying also a deliciously buttery pineapple bun or boba as a sweet afterthought) and my brother and I would stuff our faces in the car. 9 times out of 10, we’d be done by the time we reached my dad’s apartment. By the end of it, tiny chunks of fleshy white fish meat would be stuck to our faces and we’d be gripping greasy mounds of napkins we’d used to sponge off our fingers. We’d waddle bellies full into my dad’s apartment and lay in front of the TV as he played episode after episode of the Twilight Zone while we happily napped, satiated.
I don’t know why, but all my fondest memories involve food.
Anyway, happy birthday week!
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Most of the best memories should contain food. Thank you!
Since this is a family blog, I guess I can say that my sweetie and I enjoyed a delicious home-cooked coconut curry with chicken and cauliflower, and are considering the idea of going to Chinatown this weekend to pick up some fun things to cook.
Other than that, I’m not sure I can share exactly what fun my sweetie and I have had tonight and plan for this weekend. š
Happy birthday week! Hope you get to enjoy some fun and some yummy cake!
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Well this is ABOUT family but it’s sure not intended for kids š You have a great weekend!
Happy Birthday! (But really… have a great day whether birthday or not. š ) As for me, a really fond memory eh? Hmmm…
Well, when I was about 8 years old, Dad and I went shopping at a grocery store. Mom had specifically told Dad to get a few items and to get whatever looks good and on sale. The grocery store was a Chinese store in an old plazza. It’s a pretty small location. Next to the grocery store was a music store. Dad and I had wondered in after grocery shopping. I took a liking to a piano and started pounding away at it. I didn’t really pay attention to Dad as he was speaking to someone. We finally got home with all our groceries in tow about an hour later. Mom asked what took us so long. Dad shrugged and said there was a lot to buy.
“Well, what did you buy?” Mom asked him.
Dad looked down at the grocery bags as he placed them on the table. “Carrots. Tilapia. Daikon. Soy milk. Pork shoulder. Shrimp. A piano. Strawberries. Oranges. Baby Bak choy–”
“Wait,” Mom exclaimed. “What did you say before strawberries?” she peered at him.
Dad replied, “Shrimp” with a straight face.
Mom looked at him again and asked, “AFTER shrimp. BEFORE strawberries.”
Dad looked down at me as I was grinning ear to ear. Then he looked up and said, “I bought a piano for the kids.”
And that’s how we got a piano in the house and why my brother and I started taking piano classes. ^__^;
HA! Your parents are a riot.