52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks
Week 37
Prompt – Birthday Closest To Yours
My children's birthday filled me
with dread every year. The planning, the themes, the special event,
the cake, the friend invites and goodie bags were all overwhelming.
The pressure to get it right and be a success was pretty high.
Growing up I can not remember many
parties that I had. I vaguely remember a shared birthday party with
my brother Don. His birthday, April 8, was two weeks after mine. We
got to invite a few friends. We played games such as the one where
you go around chairs with one less chair than the number of kids and when the music
stopped everyone had to take a seat and the one left standing was
out. It was played until there was one winner. I can still
visualize the chaos, excitement and laughing that went on during this
game. I'm not sure who won but it wasn't me. Our shared birthday
cake had pennies baked into it. A huge thing at the time. That was before we were worried about germs. It was considered lucky to get a penny in your cake
piece. I think in its hay day many kids swallowed pennies. Besides all that getting
presents was pretty cool too.
Several reasons come to mind when I
ponder why we didn't have parties. Firstly it was costly for my parents
who could barely make ends meet. Secondly my mom worked outside of
the home. Not many mothers worked in the 1960's. Thirdly I had six
siblings and that made a party all by itself. In fact every meal was
a party!
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| Wendy and Her Father's Shared Birthday Cake. Wendy's 6th Birthday |
What I do remember is sharing a
birthday cake with my father. His birthday was 3 days after mine on
March 28th. I liked it. It was that one little thing
that I got to share with my dad and no one else could. It was very
special. My quiet father did not like a fuss to be made over him.
Although we shared the cake, it was put in front of me to blow out
the candles.
Some 20 years ago my first grandchild,
Alanna, was born just 3 days before my birthday on March 22nd.
What a coincidence that our birthdays are also 3 days apart.
Several of our family parties have been shared but Alanna has had her
own special day as well. On those shared birthdays I would rather it
be just about Alanna because just like my father I am not so keen on
all the fuss. I hope that one day she can look back with fond
memories of a shared birthday in the same way that I look back on my father and my shared birthday.
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| 2002 Alanna's 4th Birthday Sharing With Grandma |
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| 2017 Alanna's 19th Birthday, Sharing With Grandma |
Wendy
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