Missed Birthdays

"The legends of missed birthdays"

Legend #1:
In a great Northwest land lives a wonderful Grandmother who we will call Gma. She has several grandchildren, but we focus on the third, "B3."

Gma and Gpa were pilots, so they had the opportunity to travel quite a bit. In the winter they would often go to Mexico and camp on Baja. (That's the peninsula south of California, for those who need a reference.) In the summer and into fall, they would travel to British Columbia and camp next to one of the wonderful wilderness lakes. (B.C. is in Canada. Google "Canada" if you need to know where it is. Then sue your former school district.)

When you vacation in Canada, they say you are "on holiday" which can be a bit confusing to us Yanks at first. But Gma and Gpa usually traveled around the holidays: Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day. July 4 is not celebrated in BC of course, but July 1 is Canada Day -- and they sing "my country tis of thee" with different words, so strange ; )

Grandchild "B3"s birthday is around Labor Day, and she would feign exasperation, "You're ALWAYS gone on my birthday, Gma." This year, for the first time, B3 will be on a trip during Gma's birthday. Sounds like Cat in the Cradle! Google those lyrics, too, if you need.

Legend #2:
In the 70's, Gma's grandpa-in-law put together a family geneology book, and Gma did all the layout and calligraphy for it. Lots of beautiful but tedious work.

At the end, after printing I believe, we all realized she put the wrong birth year on her youngest child!

And so end the stories of "missed" birthdays.

Oh wait, there is one more:

Legend #3:
When Gma turned 39, a big surprise birthday party was put together. Family and friends came from far and wide. Gpa distracted her away from the house for a few hours, and when they got home she assumed all the cars were some other neighbor having a big party. Then when she saw her brother-in-law skulking around the garage, her first thought was "Why is Tom here and why is he trying to hide behind the car?" Lots of fun.

Later she asked someone (I think Aunt Char), "So why did you do all this for this birthday?"

"Well," Char answered, "because it's your 40th."

"NO I'M NOT, not until next year!"

Oops.