Tag: Birthdays

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Falling Through the Cracks

birthday-cake-6

For the past several weeks Dave has been burning the candle at both ends, working on a proposal for a contract.  It’s the same old drill we’ve gone through every September as the DOD scrambles to allot the remaining budgeted dollars for the current fiscal year before it ends on October 1st.  So, our traditional Labor Day celebration consists of Dave working the entire weekend while I hang around the house not doing much of anything.

This year, he is really under the gun because this proposal is due this coming Monday and Maggie’s wedding is in three days.  Even though his workmates are ready and willing to give him a hand, he wants to ensure the proposal is in good shape before he hands it over to them. Combine that with our extra vigilance in regards to his health, and the stress level increases exponentially.  I’ve been pitching in to carry his load of household chores but occasionally some things do fall through the cracks.

Yesterday when he came home from work, he was pooped.  He said he wanted to close his eyes for a few minutes and then eat a quick meal before heading back to the office.  When I called him to the table he announced that he was done for the day and had decided that we should go for a walk this evening and he’d go in early in the morning to make up lost time.

True to his word, the alarm went off a little after 5:00 this morning.  Per his custom, he hit the snooze button a couple of times and finally crawled off to the shower.  I decided I would get him off to a good start by actually cooking him a breakfast – something I almost never do.

To the tune of Izzie’s whining to go out, I got the sausage and toast going before cracking the eggs into a bowl for scrambling.  In short order I had set the table with nice cloth napkins, poured the juice and had two plates of scrambled eggs and sausage ready when Dave came down the stairs.  I even had his coffee poured and mixed to his personal specifications of sugar and hazelnut creamer.

There was little conversation as we ate; Dave isn’t a morning person and he was a bit grumpy.  He apologized for his dark mood and said he hadn’t slept well; so many thoughts were running through his mind.  I felt badly for him and told him I had something important to tell him.  He looked at me unconvinced that I actually had something important to say.  I said, “Honey, I just wanted to tell you that today is my birthday.”  He cringed and put his hand over his face. “I didn’t want you to get to work and look at the calendar and realize that you forgot and I don’t want you to feel like you have to run and get me a card.  I’m okay with it, really.”  And I was.

He said he was sorry and kissed me.  I knew he was sorry as well as I knew that he hadn’t forgotten my birthday because he doesn’t care about me.  Heck, with all the wedding stuff going on, I’d practically forgotten about it myself!  It felt so good to let him off easy, like I was finally a big girl; mature and thoughtful.  Being able to give him that gift was about the best gift I could have received for my birthday.

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My Heinz Birthday

Monica Chronicles – the early days.

Tomorrow is my birthday; my 57th birthday to be precise.  I now have had as many birthdays as Heinz has varieties.

  I don’t know why it always comes as such a shock as each September rolls around and my age clicks up a notch.  Because my birthday falls later in the year, I’ve been thinking I’m a year older since New Years.

Crazy huh?

When I was much younger, I never gave much thought about actually “being” in my 50’s let alone racing towards 60.  I did have a notion that 40 would be a nice mature age, the “ripeness of womanhood”, I called it.  It was a nice age, but it sure didn’t stick around to enjoy for long.  Before I knew it, I was into and then out of my forties and into my fifties.

No matter what I thought my life would be, it always has been, is for the foreseeable future; good.  For that I am exceedingly grateful.

I was very fortunate to be born into a large, loving family.  Even though I was the oldest of six children, my father was deployed when I was born so when I came home from the hospital, Mom and I came home to my Grandma Gray’s house with at least six of her siblings still in residence.  My Aunt Sue was only 14 months older than I and my grandmother was two months pregnant.  This serene photo of the infant sleeping was not to be replicated in real life for a while.

After my Dad returned from Hawaii where he fought the “battle of Waikiki”, we moved into a place of our own and my younger siblings  began to arrive in rapid succession.  I wonder how my folks did it; raising such a lively brood while they themselves were so young.  When I look at my own daughter and realize that by the time Mom was her age, she had just had her sixth baby, I am in awe.

Our family was big and loud but despite the crying and shouting (from the kids, not the parents) we were still loving and caring.  We still are a bit loud when we get together, but without the crying and shouting.

Dave and I before a night on the town in Standardsville!

Early in my adulthood I was fortunate in finding my soul mate.  There was also some crying and shouting in the beginning, but over the past thirty-two years we have built a good life for ourselves and raised two great kids.  We have an extended family that includes two incredible grandsons and their parents and friends and relatives in almost every major metropolitan area in the country where we can visit if we find the time.

Yeah, I guess I could whine about another year passing and the number attached to my name is one digit higher, but I’d much rather have a glass of wine and remember all the wonderful memories I’ve packed into these past 57 years and look forward to the many more to come.