Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday

Counting the minutes before the bell rang, I looked at the clock for the hundredth time. It had been such a long day. It was my ninth birthday!

I thought I could talk my parents into letting me stay home from school! Apparently, that was not good parenting in the fifties, or so they told me. They’d set up a party for Saturday at our house with cake and music and stuff. Inviting all my friends, and neighbors too. But, that day was my real birthday! So, they were bringing me out to dinner, that would be my birthday thing. That was nice, but still… not birthday.

Just before it got close enough for us to start getting our coats and stuff, suddenly Mrs. Grant, our teacher, told everybody to stand up next to their desk. Then she called me up front, and had everybody sing Happy Birthday, to me! It was so amazing, I kind of cried a little.

Finally, the bell rang and we flooded out. We lived close enough that I usually had to walk home, but as a birthday present, Mom was picking me up. Two of my neighborhood friends were coming home with me, and out to dinner too. And it did turn out to be a fun and special dinner.

Then when Saturday finally came, everybody came to my “official” birthday party! My whole class was invited as well as the neighborhood! The cake was giant, and I got so many presents!

Yes, I was disappointed that the real birthday had to wait for the weekend. But to this day, that birthday, when I turned nine, is the one I always think of when I think of my birthdays. It’s a favorite memory still, even as I turn seventy-seven. Happy Birthday me!