Hey, hey it’s my birthday week….Day 1
Hello and happy Monday!
I am working on the annual VBS for Adults without the Glue and Glitter in my head so there is that to look forward to, but for this week I have some musings and memories astir and since this is where I share what’s on my heart and mind, you will be receiving those thoughts.
At the end of this week, I will celebrate my 65th birthday and in all transparency, it’s been an emotional approach to this milestone.
In fact, my eyes brimmed with tears as I typed that last sentence just as they have each time I have had to say it, do more paperwork to end my adult life insurance coverage under Russ’s umbrella and try not to think about how fast the last 15 years went since I bucked up and embraced turning 50.
Because I am bucking up yet again and when I do the math and calculate where I will be in 15 more and consider the speed of light in which the days and years passed…well…as I said. I am not doing well.
I told Russ a few weeks ago and he gave me a sweet pep talk that has been a treasure to remember.
So in light of my honest confession, I also have done a fair share of remembering some fun and sweet stories of birthdays my family of origin and our family by marriage have given me so I hope they bring you smiles and joy as they do me.
My parents always made a big deal about birthdays, which was nice because back in the days of my youth teachers did not celebrate summer birthdays. Us summer kids watched all the September through May celebrants get called up in front of the room whilst the class sang Happy Birthday, but we never had the pleasure.
It was okay and I don’t recall that in those days there was the birthday snack brought in and all such extraneous hoopla and we June to August kids survived and thrived so such is our story.
On your birthday in our house you got to pick the meal and the kind of cake and I know at least one time my mom had a party for me because there is a black and white photo of a bunch of little girls in their Sunday dresses, white patent leather shoes and lace ankle socks all seated in folding chairs in our garage where my dad had managed to use his movie projector and gotten some cartoons for us to watch.
I had to laugh thinking of the way kids run wild and free at birthday parties these days. No party clothes and all action packed.
Not so for Carl Lochner.
I am sure we sat quite still and minded our manners eating cake.
While I don’t remember the actual event, the photograph marks the effort of my parents to have a party for me and my friends that holds a special place in my heart.
It is tucked away somewhere in amongst the bazillion paper photographs from their house collection and ours…sigh…as you know, I have a photo hoarding problem.
There is another photo somewhere from our trailer travel summers when I was older. At some point my dad retired from the military and held jobs where he could spend most of the summer traveling.
My parents still made a big deal about my birthday and one year I must have requested a watermelon for my cake because we have a photo of me in my awkward tween years, odd teeth coming in and stringy straight hair, sitting at the fold out table in our airstream, grinning over a half of a watermelon that my mom stuck an actual taper candle in for me to blow out.
I am thankful for the way my parents made me feel special on my birthday. They sowed in me the seeds of celebration for birthdays and of making our people feel special on their special day.
One year when I was a young mom, my mother gave me a list of each of my birthdays and what they had done, where we spent it. She, like me, held tight to memories. I have the list somewhere too, of course.
Ah well…enough reminiscing for today.
I will pray for some treasures to share this week and hopefully the stories are good for your visit each day.
God bless you and I hope your week is off to a great start <3