Beech Tree News Network

 

Like a vehicle’s odometer, my birthday counter has clicked over into another year. Even though the numbers get higher, I’m always thankful for another year – the gift of time.
Some thoughts about birthdays are listed below (http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_birthday.html#DfywQ7H2G9u...):
•    Every year on your birthday, you get a chance to start new. -Sammy Hagar
•    How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are? -Satchel Paige
•    We have to be able to grow up. Our wrinkles are our medals of the passage of life. They are what we have been through and who we want to be. -Lauren Hutton
•    You know you're getting old when you get that one candle on the cake. It's like, 'See if you can blow this out.' -Jerry Seinfeld
•    You know you're getting old when the candles cost more than the cake. -Bob Hope
A birthday is one of the few special days we have. I asked family and friends to share a favorite birthday memory (The birthday might be theirs or someone else’s.). Their responses are below:
•    My favorite birthday memories are the births of my children. Both days were exhilarating, scary, and very good days in my life.
•    My favorite birthday was my 40th. My wonderful, sexy, handsome hubby invited all our family and friends and surprised me with a fantastic party!
•    Yes, my beautiful, sexy, loving wife surprised me also with a party, including family and a lot of old rowdy friends….
•    1. Last year my staff surprised me by ordering matching shirts for everyone and with a dance that the whole school had learned. They performed it for me with my family present. 2. The birth of my daughter was the most beautiful day! 3. For my mother-in-law’s last birthday, we put flowers and confetti everywhere and made her day a really big deal. We didn’t know it would be her last, so I was always glad we did that.
•    My husband asked me to marry him on my 19th birthday, and I jokingly answered him with “maybe.”
•    My best birthday memories are from childhood. I can remember having a McDonald’s birthday party where you played games in the back, like stacking the containers and pin the tail on the donkey, followed by my very first sleepover….Super excited!
•    My favorite birthday memory is when we celebrated Grandmother’s 80th birthday, watching her as she watched the picture video I made for her.
•    My favorite birthday was the year I turned 16 and got my first truck. It was a big red 1978 (same age as me) pickup with a bug shield that said, “Daddy’s Girl.” I was so proud of it. And, my dad was so proud to give it to me. I love that truck. I still have it 20 years later.
My personal birthday favorites were those celebrated with my husband – all forty of them. We didn’t have a pattern of celebration. Sometimes my husband gave me a card and a candy bar, other times dinner out and/or a gift. Whatever we did didn’t matter; I knew my husband wanted me to have a good day.
Now I’m another year older. This year’s birthday cake had a couple of numbered candles that made fewer holes in the cake than individual candles would have. And, based on the Jerry Seinfeld comment above, blowing out so many candles might have exhausted me.