A Birthday is such an exciting day for kids!  Everyone pays special attention to the birthday child; from teachers to friends, neighbors and family.  They wake up hoping for a special gift, a cake with their name on it and maybe looking forward to a party.  When I was a child, I could hardly wait to be one year older.  I would even claim to be a half year older by saying that I was nine and a half for six or seven months.  Back then, I would spend hours combing through the Sears catalog for gift ideas and would dream of the pile of presents I would get.  It seemed like there was a law that everyone had to be extra nice to you on your birthday, and everyone was.  It was wonderful to be the center of attention for the day.

My family had several birthday traditions.  First of all, no chores!  Also, you got your way on everything.  You got to ride in the front seat of the car and pick the radio station, your favorite meals were served for breakfast, lunch and dinner and you chose what everyone would watch on TV.  My favorite meal was my mom’s barbeque spare ribs and pumpkin pie for dessert.  I never cared for cake.  I took the birthday wish thing really seriously and would ponder what to wish for a month in advance.  Blowing out the candles was something that couldn’t be rushed due to the fact that I needed to really concentrate on that wish and getting enough air in my lungs to blow out all the candles in one breath.  After dinner, my mom and dad would turn off all the lights, fire up the candles and everyone would serenade me with the birthday song.  After the wish was made and before the cake was served, it was time for the Birthday Spanking!  My kids have never heard of this and didn’t believe me when I explained the custom the other day!  My dad was gentle but it was still scary so I laughed and screamed at the same time. 

Until I was a teenager, my mom would get out my baby book around bed time and sit me on her lap and tell me the story of the day I was born.  She would show me all my baby pictures and tell me what a great baby I was.  I am so glad she did this.  Each year I would ask questions and she would tell me a bit more until I knew all my childhood stories and the people in all the pictures.  By the time I was about eleven or twelve, I was feeling too old to sit on my mom’s lap and kind of wanted to protest the whole baby story idea but she would insist.  I’m sure I thought I was too cool for nostalgia and other such mushiness.   Forty odd years later, these are some of my favorite memories.

Today is my youngest child’s birthday; he is twelve years old.  I have carried on some of the family traditions and added others.  I made grits casserole the way he likes it for breakfast.  I have wrapped his gifts so that he can see them and wonder about them until after dinner.  I baked him a cake without frosting.  Now, I am making the sauce for the make-your-own French bread pizzas he has requested for dinner.  I really enjoy cooking but cooking a special meal for someone is even more fun for me.  I think about the people I am cooking for.  As I did my grocery shopping, browned the Italian sausage, gathered basil and oregano from the garden and ground up fennel seeds, I thought about how much my son enjoys helping in the kitchen and how much he will like making his own pizza.  This made me think about my mom making her homemade barbeque sauce with crushed pineapple.   I remember walking in the door after school and smelling my birthday dinner.

For a mom, a child’s birthday is like a special mother’s day; even better than the Sunday in May.  It is the anniversary of the momentous occasion of giving birth.  The labor is a vague memory but the first time you see your baby, the look on your husband’s face, little toes, that first cry; those are the things that we remember the most.  That was the beginning of this special relationship we will always have; mother and child.  I always want to wish the mother a “Happy you became a mom day.”  Much of our celebration is enjoying all the memories and wondering what they will be like when they grow up even more.

Well, my almost teenager may be too cool to hug me and say “I love you” back at bedtime, but I understand.  That’s okay, I remember being too cool when I was twelve.  This afternoon he will come home to the aromas of chocolate cake and pizza sauce.  Yes, he will have to wait until after dinner to open his gifts.  Tonight, we will turn off all the lights, light the candles and sing Happy Birthday and yell “make a wish!”  He will make silly guesses at his gifts while unwrapping them really slowly, like his Dad does.  And, even though he will roll his eyes, tonight I will show him his baby pictures and tell him about his sister saying “I’m so happy my tummy tickles inside” the first time she saw him.  We are all still that happy about him!