Sharing birthdays with Shinazy
Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear, Linda, Marlene, and Kitty . . . WHAT ? !!!
When it came to celebrating our birthdays, my younger sisters and I became triplets. Our mother altered birth certificates so each of us could enter kindergarten by the birth-date cutoff. (Why no one questioned this statistical oddity is another story). Every year three little faces puckered lips and blew. I never revealed my birthday wish, but I knew it would someday come true because, in the presence of all that wind, every candle was extinguished.
My sisters and I were born under the Sagittarius sun sign – with Christmas only a few weeks away. As each birthday passed, I closed-in on that wished-for December date – my true, single-birth day. A birthday where I was the center of attention…no sharing. I’d be the only birthday girl smiling for the flash bulbs and the cake would appear decorated with one name . . . mine.
The first time my wish came true was on my 30th birthday . . . Yeah . . . Great. I was 30, the age-defining split second of becoming a member of The Establishment. It was official; I joined the You-Can’t-Trust-Anyone-Over-30 crowd. For three decades, I imagined a joyous celebration of my very existence, instead, I was blinded by candles commemorating that I was OLD.
As the other hallmark birthdays passed: 4oh, 5oh, 6oh, I shared the occasions with other Sagittarians, while imagining a celebration, which became more elaborate. The great thing about imagination is everything is possible. 
One year I invented a party at the North Pole where the aurora borealis was my personal candle light. Even in this fantasy, when it came to candle-blowing time, I wished that next year the deep exhale would extinguish real flames.
One year I invented a party at the North Pole where the aurora borealis was my personal candle light. Even in this fantasy, when it came to candle-blowing time, I wished that next year the deep exhale would extinguish real flames. A few Decembers ago, I decided to combine my birthday with my honey’s, who was born in February. The perfect gift was for us to go away for the weekend and experience something new – births are new, birthdays should be new. Off we went to overnight in the lighthouse on East Brother’s Island. We’ve repeated sharing our birthdays every February, staying at a different lighthouse. This February as we drove to the Point Sur Lighthouse, my sweetee turned to me and said, “Here you are again, sharing your birthday.”
Yes, Sharing … The best way to celebrate a birthday.
photo by Aih and Larry 1732
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