A Forgotten Birthday

 Originally Written Between 2013-2015                     

Once upon a time, on June 10^th, a baby girl, named Mary was born.  I won’t tell you the year – but let’s just say the war was close to ending.  You’ll have to guess which war.

Anyway, Mary’s mom always celebrated Mary’s birthday with close family and friends, including grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and an overabundance of cake and candles, balloons, and presents.  As Mary grew older, the guests were neighborhood friends and kids from school.  The teen-year birthdays also included a sleepover on the front porch.  Birthdays celebrated after graduation from high school comprised of colleagues from work and/or social friends and then after meeting Norm, special dinners at fancy restaurants.  

After marriage and children, birthday celebrations for Mary contained hand-made birthday cards and bouquets of dandelions and then later on, maybe a cake made from scratch by one of the kids.  All birthdays started with each child – no matter where they were – calling Mary and singing Happy Birthday to her. 

You probably have figured out by now that “Mary” is me.  

Fast forward to a little over two months ago…..  It is June 10, 2013.  I got up early and settled down on the living room couch with the morning paper.  After a while, Norm came down the stairs and I fully expected him to sing “Happy Birthday” to me.  Nothing.  Just a “good morning.”  Hmmmmm, well maybe he just needs to wake up a little bit more after he has his coffee. After a while, still nothing.

Well, I’m not going to say anything.  I’ll just see how long it takes before he realizes that today is my birthday.  After all, just last night he asked me where I wanted to go for my birthday and I said, “Jax Restaurant.”  So, he knows.  He just has to realize it.

Around 10:00 that morning, Norm announces that he is going to take a bike ride.  Ah Ha!  I know what he is really doing.  He’s going to ride over to the store and get me a birthday card since the meal at Jax is my actual gift.  Ya, that’s it.  He’s sneaking out to buy me a card.

It’s now about 45 minutes later and he comes in the house all sweaty and breathing heavy from his bike ride.  No package.  No card.  He truly was on a bike ride.  Maybe he hid the card in the garage?

I continued to get ready for a meeting I had to attend in the afternoon….. I wonder when he was going to remember my birthday!  After he cleaned up from his bike ride, Norm announced that he was going to go grocery shopping and did I need anything from the store.  You mean like a birthday card, flowers or a cake?  I told him that I needed some milk and bread and off he went.  I just knew that he really had remembered and wanted to go birthday shopping as well as grocery shopping.  At this time, I should tell you that while he was gone, I did receive the customary Happy Birthday calls from each of our four children.  I also received 18 emails and cards from friends and relatives and calls from my brother and sister.  Even a former colleague of mine who moved to Portland, Oregon three years ago sent me an email.  They all remembered!

Norm returned just as I was getting into my car to go to my meeting.  He sort of hesitated getting the groceries out of the car while I was backing out and I reasoned in my mind that he wanted me to leave so he could get the cake out of the back seat.  I just knew it.

So, I went to my meeting and returned around 3:15.  Hmmmm….. no cake on the counter.  Well, maybe he hid it for after we come back from Jax.  He always was very good at surprises. 

Four o’clock.  The phone rings.  Norm grabs it and sees that it is one of his sisters, Norrine.  I happened to be in another room and picked up the other phone at the same time.  But before I could say, “hello,” I heard Norrine say, “Hi Norm….. let me talk to the birthday gal!”  Norm yelled toward the back of the house where I was and said, “It’s for you.”  Well, I had a great 10-minute talk with Norrine and hung up.

I then walked into the living room and……. nothing!  Ten minutes had passed since Norm learned that it was my birthday and he forgot again!  Ten minutes!!  I waited.  And waited.  Still nothing.  He’s busy reading the paper.

Finally, around 5:00, Norm says, “What do you think we should do for dinner?  I replied:  “I don’t know about you, but John called earlier today and invited me to celebrate my birthday at LaCasita with him, Aida, and Johan.  So, that’s where I’m going.  I don’t know what your plans are.”

“Oh, my gosh.  I forgot your birthday,” he said.  “You mean even after Norrine asked to speak to the birthday girl – you didn’t catch on?  Even after we had discussed various restaurants last night – you didn’t remember?” I asked.

Well, to sum up this little story, Mary did allow Norm to accompany her to LaCasita.  She does remind him every so often that he still owes her a HUGE dinner at Jax.  And, once he pays the Coldwater Creek invoice at the end of this month, I’m sure they will all live happily ever after again.

 

PS:  The next day, Norm gave me one of those musical cards that sang, “I’m Sorry,” by Connie Stevens.  Included was a note that we have a date to see Billy Crystal at the State Theater on October 22.  I put it on the calendar in big letters so he doesn’t forget!