Birthday Musings
We moved to a new neighborhood
when I was fourteen (same city, just a different part), and I soon found out
that, within a three-block radius, three other people had the same birthday as
mine--today, September 19. One was a woman across the street who became my
mother’s best friend. The other two were boys a few years younger than I was. We
might have had a block party but never did.
What are the odds of that? I read
once one of those interesting little factoids—that may not be facts at all—that
if you have a certain number of people in a room, the odds are good that two of
them would have the same birthday. I have no head for numbers, so I don’t
remember how many people (although it was much closer to a dozen than to 366)
or what the odds were. But in every place I’ve worked, every school I went to,
among all the people I’ve known well enough to know their birthdays, I have not
since met anyone else who had the same birthday as mine. And yet there were
four of us at that particular time within three blocks of each other.
Do you know some of the famous
people who share your birthday? When I fell in love with “The Man from UNCLE” I
was thrilled to learn that David McCallum had the same birthday as mine.
Younger people probably know him from NCIS, but to me he’ll always be Illya
Kuryakin. And he’s looking darn good for 79. Also Jeremy Irons--not a bad
person either to share a birthday with. And--how many people remember
them?--Bill Medley of the Righteous Brothers, the one with the deep voice. Not to mention Adam West of TV Batman fame.
So, how many of you know who you share your
birthday with?
On a more sober note, this will
be my first birthday without my mother. I’ll miss her terribly, of course, but it’s
made easier by the fact that for the last couple of years she didn’t know when
my birthday was, and when we told her she’d look disappointed and say “I didn’t
get you anything”--knowing she was frustrated and upset with herself for her
lack of memory. So today I honor her and thank her for the gift of life she
gave me.
Thanks, Mom, and I’ll always love you.
Happy birthday! I had an acupuncturist who not only had my same birthday but born the same year! So we were only hours apart in age.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday!
ReplyDeleteI share mine (August 29) with first of all my sister who is 13 years older than me, Michael Jackson and Ingrid Bergman.
Birthday share: Sir Francis Bacon. And how lovely to remember your mom today with a tribute to her and the gift of life. I'm sure she felt blessed when she first laid eyes upon you Elaine and never stopped. Happy birthday my friend!
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice birthday post! Hope your day was just what you wanted from it. I love that you thanked your mom for giving you life, I have told my mom that a few times and she laughs and says, "What choice did I have? In those days, you got pregnant and had babies!" I told her once, "Well, thanks for not having a headache that ONE night in March of 1949 when Dad was horny!" She laughed very hard at that one.
ReplyDelete