Memorable Birthdays

 A few birthdays that are most memorable to me.

When I was ten, my Grandpa gave me a watch.  He gave a watch to all his grandkids on their tenth birthday and since that was my "golden" birthday, it meant a lot to me.

All of my birthdays growing up were always overshadowed by our annual church conventions.  They could be anywhere in the United States, wherever a church was hosting it.  So lots of the time, my family worked that in as one of our vacations.  When I was older and couldn't get out of work, the rest of the family would call me and sing Happy Birthday from a gas station phone wherever they were.

The birthday that I remember the most though, we were at the Midland, Michigan church.  I was so excited to make a friend that year, Maria.  She was my age and lived there.  We became penpals afterwards.  But the night of my birthday, everyone from the convention sat around a huge campfire singing songs and the whole crowd sang Happy Birthday to me!  It was very special.  

Maria asked me to stay overnight at her house so I KNOW I asked Mom and Dad for permission and thought they'd said ok, so after the bon fire, I left the church grounds with Maria and her family.  Her house was gorgeous!  We'd just got settled into sleeping bags in her room when her mom came in and said that my parents were on the phone. hmmm... 

Apparently they thought I'd wandered into the woods behind the church and police had been called.  Everyone there were combing the woods for me before someone thought to call Maria's family.  So some excitement!!

The other very memorable birthday was last year.  Robb's bagpipe band had wanted to play at his grave in his honor and bagpipes really don't sound very good in 15 degree weather, the pipe major asked me to give them a date during warm weather for them to come play.  So I planned a birthday party for myself with a band!  I invited friends and family to join us at the cemetery and so many people came to hear the band play.  It was a gorgeous day.  They also played Happy Birthday for me and then they toasted Robb with Scotch whiskey, leaving a dixie cup of it on his stone.  He wouldn't have drank it, but I poured it on his grave later on during a walk.

After the concert, lots of speeches and tears, everyone was invited back to the house for cake and lemonade.  It was a great time and so wonderful to share memories with my friends and family.  The band members wanted to see the picture board from the funeral and people milled all over the house.

I'm sure more memorable birthdays are to come but for now, those are the most memorable in different ways.