Kukelchoo
As a kid, my birthday was sometimes celebrated during family vacations to the beach with my grandparents and extended family. A couple of times it was celebrated at my grandparents' house in Ohio or my granddaddy's house in Mississippi. I remember a few childhood birthday parties: themes in variations of dinosaurs, Star Wars, Batman. My parents had this record that they used to play on the Inter-Com system at our house. "Hey David, It's your birthday. I'm in charge of the stars, and I'm here to say - Hey David, you're the big star today!" Thanks for the enduring melody, Captain Zoom.
In 1999, between my sophomore and junior years of college, my Grandpa died in early August, just a few days before my birthday. My Aunt Debbie used my twentieth birthday as an outlet for her grief and mourning energies; she insisted that my birthday not be forgotten, so we celebrated repeatedly over those weeks. Between the funerals in Florida and West Virginia, the downtime in Tennessee and the estate planning and house-cleaning that we returned to Florida to complete, not to mention all of the driving back and forth - well, we ate cake in at least five states. I was serenaded by most of the Applebees waitstaff east of the Louisiana Purchase, we went to Busch Gardens and a Devil Rays baseball game for my birthday, and took countless pictures of me blowing out candles. It has become a permanent family joke, all those birthdays that Aunt Debbie made me celebrate that year.
My first birthday card this year was from Aunt Debbie. She wrote, "Hope you have a wonderful birthday. I remember many of your birthdays." Something about this birthday card meant a lot, was important to me this year.
Currently Listening to:
Jack Johnson's To the Sea
