"Birthdays. They come. They go. They come again."--Eeyore

As many of you know, Eeyore is my hero. I own his Gloomy Little Book of Instructions. But I'm not writing about Eeyore today. I'm writing about birthdays.

Today is my 46th. I don't feel like I'm encroaching on 50. Must be something to do with having a three-year-old?

Over the years, I've had some good birthdays and some not-so-good. I don't remember all of them. But some definitely stand out in my mind! Having a birthday smack up against a major holiday often meant delaying my party until my friends were back in town. I also remember camping with my stepdad on a few birthdays. I think it was my 12th that we celebrated at Camp Nowhere with a frozen Sara Lee cake and one candle. For several years, the Hyde family get-together was over the Fourth of July holiday, so I would often defer my birthday until some event of my choosing--the Portland Highland Games, or Johnny Martin playing live at Portland's Viscount Ballroom.

But, just for grins, here are the worst and best of my 46 birthdays:

#46--1999, my 35th. Bob and I had a huge fight over some things that now seem pretty stupid. On our way home from the family get-together, we stopped at the Centralia outlet mall to do a little shopping, but didn't find much. We had a flat tire--in the rain--before we ever made it home.

#45--1982, my 18th. As with this year, the Fourth was a Sunday, so our local parade was deferred to Monday, July 5. I was Miss Riverdale, and this was "my" parade! It was a drizzly morning, so Mom wouldn't let me wear my satin dress; it had to be the pale pink spaghetti strap dress that I thought made me look too skinny, so I was NOT happy. Nonetheless, I was all decked out and we went to the parade lineup area, only to be told that the parade had been canceled due to the weather. Getting back into the car, I whacked my tiara and broke it. Later that day, my dad showed up at our door with a little cake for me. Let's just say that my mother didn't like my dad my dad much. She must have at one time, or I wouldn't be here, but.... So, yes, more contention!

#44--1990, my 26th. We were living in Texas, but Bob had just accepted a position with Kaiser Aluminum in Spokane. Mom was in Olympia and had just broken her ankle badly. Bob's dad gave me a frequent-flyer ticket to bring almost-one-year-old Sara and take care of my Mom. I left Sara in Renton with the family and spent my birthday getting my mother out of the hospital and watching Wimbledon on TV.


#3--1967, my 3rd. Yes, I actually remember this one! Mom and I hadn't been in England long as she was separated from my Dad. But I remember the party in the dining room at the Mitre Hotel, with lots of kids I didn't know, and games, and cake. I particularly remember all the children having balloons tied to their wrists and we played "Ring Around the Rosy." Trouble was, instead of "all fall down," we all stood up--except me. I sat down. On my balloon. It popped, and there were no more left, and I cried, but it was still fun.

#2--1984, my 20th. We actually sort of celebrated on the Fourth. We were still at school at BYU and had been married just about a year. We got together with our friend Lance and whole bunch of people and went to the park for live music and a picnic. It was wall-to-wall people and, while others were barbecuing dogs and burgers, we had shrimp and steak kebabs going on the hibachi. Somehow, my dad found us and gave me a cake, which we shared with everyone, and we capped the evening with fireworks synchronized to music.

#1--2004, my 40th. Bob was already working in Kalispell and the kids and I were still in Aloha. We'd all got together in Ephrata for the holiday and left on my birthday, but we had some family birthday time before going our separate ways. That evening, I got together with my "drinking buddies." Let me digress a little--I had just completed my M.Ed. program, which was a cohort program--20+ of us doing our coursework together. Four of us student taught English at the same school, so we got pretty close. Jim and Christy and I would meet most Monday nights at the Goose Hollow Inn and just hang out. I'd drink lemonade; they'd have a beer. So anyhoo, on my birthday we got together. Another cohort-mate was there for a while. Christy gave me a pretty photo album, Jim gave me a Wonder Woman pez dispenser, which still makes me giggle and which I still have, and Jim's crazy friend James gave me flowers an a very nice compliment! It wasn't anything spectacular, but the cameraderie and everything just made it a really great day.