Birthdays

My birthday is approaching. Next week I will be 29 years old. We've been working our way through what I call "birthday season" in our family. Mine is one of third to the last before we get a break from the crazy summer months where our families celebrate a birthday every week from July through September. I can't remember how we celebrated my last birthday. But here are a few memorable birthdays I will tell you about.

My fourth birthday is the first one that I really remember. I had a party at home. I remember Mama made a cake and put a candy ballerina on top. We had the equivalent of a Mongol horde of kids over. At least it seemed like a lot of kids, but I was four years old so it's kind of hard to gauge just how many.

I remember my dad took me and my mom camping for my 13th birthday. I was always complaining that Daddy took my brothers fishing and camping and out on the boat, etc. and never did that kind of stuff with me. So I think the trip was to appease me. It took me a long time to realize that I'm just not an outdoor kind of person. My allergies bothered me the whole time and the bugs were terrible. I don't remember if I've been camping since then or not, but don't plan a trip for me soon. I can wait.

My 18th birthday my parents came up to college to take me out to dinner. They gave me a wrapped gift in the car--a surge protector. Wow. Later, when they started to leave they opened the trunk and gave me a new typewriter to go with it. That weekend, I came home and went to see The Flintstones at the movies with my old high school friends. That was the last time I saw some of them.

Two days before my 22nd birthday, my boyfriend's grandfather died. We traveled to West Virginia for the funeral, which was on the day after my birthday. He went ahead and proposed and gave me the engagement ring on my birthday, even though I had told him it could wait until we got home. It was kind of cool having my engagement ring when he introduced me to his extended family. I'll never forget how he would say, "This is Daphne" and grab my hand and show them the ring. I can't help but smile thinking how he was like a little boy showing off a treasure he had found. He's still got a way of making me feel special like that.

For my 25th birthday, we went on a trip to the mountains. We spent the weekend just riding around looking at the scenery. But Lewis wouldn't say "Happy Birthday" all day. I kept trying to get him to say it. Late that night, when we were going to sleep he whispered it to me. By the next year, Marley was on the way. I count this one as the last birthday we had together, just the two of us.

My mom and I went shopping on my 27th birthday. We took Marley with us. She was eight months old. Halfway through the trip, Marley started crying and just couldn't be consoled. I realized, all of a sudden, that she hadn't had a bottle in like 6 hours. We got her one and she was fine again. We also picked out the dress that I wore to my brother's wedding rehearsal on that day. I was 6 months pregnant with Laney.

So what will I do for this birthday? I don't really know yet. I have made some plans to go shopping with my mom the weekend afterward and I'm sure Lewis will want to go somewhere to eat or something. But the wonderful thing about birthdays is they really are just like the other days of your life. It's not the fact that you're a year older that makes them memorable. It's what you do with the day that makes it stand out in your memory. I hope this one will be a good memory.