Alas, we postponed the celebration of Doug’s birthday because of uninvited guests – various bugs that slowed down the birthday boy, and flattened some invited guests.
Much sadness.
One thing, though, among many, my husband has taught me is to celebrate birthdays.
Not that my family didn’t celebrate birthdays – but Doug’s family made — makes — a big deal over someone’s birthday, whether it is a milestone one or not.
That way none of us was ever sure which birthday was the occasion. We just knew a birthday meant that we’re going to have some great food, a good cake, and fun times.
My mother-in-law’s motto, which my mother came to embrace, and I often quote, was Celebrate, don’t count! It is a motto even a child can grasp, and its meaning mellows each year.
Designer Birthday Ties
When Doug and I first started celebrating his birthday, we were dating, and with the friends who introduced us. I made him two ties . . . wide, obnoxious ties were in. He still has them, somewhere!
When we celebrated my birthday, Doug took me and my parents out to dinner and then to the Kennedy Center to see the American Ballet Theater. Quite a treat since ballet ranks right along with the dentist on Doug’s bucket list.
So today, which was quiet enough to hear the weeds planning their spring invasions, was a day when so many memories of birthday celebrations blended together, creating a warm glow. A good thing we had that glow because I wasn’t about to put candles on the cake I bought and have him blow all over it!
The first fact about the celebration of birthdays is that it is a good way of affirming defiantly, and even flamboyantly, that it is a good thing to be alive. ~G.K. Chesterton, “Our Birthday,” 1935
Happy Birthday Doug!