Birthday Calendar
When I was a kid I thought it was very special that the year I was born – 1944 – was a leap year and that it had not one but two 4’s in it!
And I was proud that I was born in the leap month of February, but I did wish my birthday was on the 29th instead of the 19th. However, if that were the case, my childish mind reasoned, I could only celebrate every four years, and that would certainly be too long to wait between birthday parties!
I also loved thinking about the birthdays of everyone else in my family, and kept a birthday calendar where I marked all those special dates. And I thought it was wonderful that my uncle Stevie and I were born on the same day, 25 years apart!
Over the years, wherever we were – and for decades it was on different coasts – Stevie and I never missed calling each on February 19th. Then in 2004 – a leap year! – we threw ourselves a gala birthday party in LA where he and my aunt Dede were living. It was my 60th and his 85th.
But now my uncle Stevie and all those of his generation are gone, and I miss them. And I miss celebrating their birthdays.
My uncle Stevie
– Dana Susan Lehrman
Dana Susan LehrmanThis retired librarian loves big city bustle and cozy country weekends, friends and family, good books and theatre, movies and jazz, travel, tennis, Yankee baseball, and writing about life as she sees it on her blog World Thru Brown Eyes!
www.WorldThruBrownEyes.com
Sweet story, Dana, and I love the idea of the family birthday calendar. Is this your actual calendar? Although I’m unable to read the actual names, I do see that October has the most birthdays, and most of them appear to be Libras. (Libras rule, yay Libras!) I love that you and your uncle celebrated that auspicious date in L.A. together, and with belly dancing no less. Was that by chance at Dar Maghreb on Sunset Blvd.? I threw my daughter an 18th birthday party there. A big draw (aside from the belly dancers) was that you could eat with your hands. Alas, it closed its doors in 2012.
Thanx BB!
I’m a thrower-outer, so there was no way I’d still have that birthday calendar from lo those many decades ago, so I searched the Web for a surrogate!
But that indeed is my uncle Stevie, altho must ask my cousins for the restaurant name!
In fact one cousin just posted that fabulous photo of Stevie last week on FB on our mutual Feb 19th birthday!
And sorry I missed yours, Happy B-day Libra!
Yes, it is special to share your birthday with a family member, Dana. Dan’s youngest sister is ALSO Feb 19, as was his father! So now you have someone new to celebrate with, but for our Judy, it is now a bittersweet day, as she misses her father. But how fun that you and your uncle had that gala birthday celebration together. Love the belly dancer. My Dan was definitely NOT happy with his, but his was at work, so he was embarrassed. Such is life!
Thanx Betsy, I am sure Feb 19th is now a bittersweet day for your sister-in-law Judy.
Such is life indeed, enjoy the belly dancers whilst we can!
Very sweet story, Dana. My family has a birthday “cluster” between May 15 and June 15, so our tradition, now that we all are adults, has been to do one big celebration on Memorial Day weekend. That’s an advantage for me (May 26) and my mom (May 30).
Yes Marian, combining birthdays and celebrating together is wonderful, my dad and one cousin were both late November babies and we’d always celebrate their b-days at Thanksgiving.
In fact at our stage, any excuse to celebrate will work!
Fun story, Dana, and I love the picture of Stevie with the belly dancer. Must have been a great celebration! Sharing birthdays with family members is very special. My father and I shared a birthday, and he always said he gave his birthday to me, so that he never got any older after I was born. 🙂
Sweet that you shared a b-day with your dad. Alas now that the older generation is gone marking their dates of course is bittersweet.
Birthday “partners” are very special. In my family, it’s just me and my granddaughter Ava who can claim September. But we always had a huge birthday cluster in February and also many folks who hit milestone birthdays together every 5 years. Kind of fun looking back on those group celebrations. Have you been noting with the year being 2020, we are getting a lot of strange combinations of numbers (02-20-20, etc.). Kind of interesting.
Yes, those milestone birthdays have been sneaking up on us!
What a wonderful photo and story. Sharing a birthday with someone for years and the big celebration for your 60th and his 85th was lovely. And yes, I love when numbers repeat – it feels special.
Thanx Dorothy, it’s funny but even as a grown-up I get smiley on my birthday and sometimes find myself telling strangers!
Loved this, Dana. It brought fond back memories of how important birthdays are when we are young. The first day of high school, in home room, a friend pointed out a girl to me who shared my birthday. We were both so excited to share this special day. When I think of it now, it sounds so bizarre that we bonded over something so random. We became fast friends, celebrating more birthdays that I care to count!
Who’s counting?!?!