Sunday, October 23, 2011

Nana Celebrates a Birthday, Cha Cha Cha!



Today is my birthday.  I have nothing special planned.  The spouse bought me a chocolate cake with birthday greetings written in red frosting.  It is a well known fact that calories consumed on one’s birthday do not count, so I’ve indulged several times today.  We usually don’t buy gifts for each other, mostly because there isn’t really anything that either of us want or need.  I do reserve the right to buy myself something guilt-free, but so far I haven’t developed the urge for another bauble or techno toy.

The granddaughters called and sang “Happy birthday to you, cha cha cha.”  My son-in-law told me the song was accompanied by a complex dance routine. 

When my children were small some of their favorite stories were about the days that each of them were born.  This evening, after the birthday cha cha cha song, I talked with my daughter and told her that Grandpa Joe had recounted the story of the day I was born.  She told me that she didn’t remember ever hearing the story.  I told her she could read it in the blog.  I think now I’ll have to write and post  the stories for each of my children and grandchildren on their birthdays.   Whew!  That will give me material for at least four postings in the coming year.

My father (Grandpa Joe) called to wish me a happy birthday and, of course, declared that he remembered the day I was born.  It’s a story I recall being told numerous times throughout my childhood.  I was born in England, in Harrow, my parent’s first child.   As was the custom of the time, my mother was attended by a midwife and I was born at home.  The midwife had been on holiday and my mother was relieved that she was back on duty when she called her to come to the house late in the day on October 23.  My father, anxious to be of assistance, was pleased to be assigned the important task of boiling water.  Not sure how much water would be needed, this was after all the birth of his first child, he set numerous kettles to boil on the stove.  He was quite proud to be trusted with this vital task.  Once his pots were boiling he went upstairs to find out what to do with all the boiling water.  He was quite surprised to discover that he was boiling water so the midwife could have a cuppa tea!

14 comments:

  1. Great story! Hope your day was memorable.

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  2. Great birth story! Happy birthday!! I love the cha-cha song from your grandchildren! How wonderful to have several generations surrounding you with love.

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  3. Happy birthday from the blogosphere, too. Birthdays are definitely designed to be guilt free, I'm convinced. I didn't realize calories don't count then, I'll remember that for my own birthday! :-)

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  4. Happy, Happy day! I'll be quoting you and the birthday calories from now on.

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  5. The happiest of birthdays to you! I love your birth story.

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  6. If calories don'tcount on your birthday, I think I'll celebrate my birthday every day. I'll become exceedingly old very quickly, but at last I'll be thin. Happy Birthday.

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  7. that is a great and funny story!
    HAPPY BIRTHDAY! (only one day late). I hope you had a good day and it does like you enjoyed your cake!

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  8. What a fun birth story! Happy Birthday and a happy year ahead!

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  9. What better birthday presents could you possibly hope for than a cake from your spouse, a song from your grandchildren and a story from your dad!?!

    P. S. I looked it up in the rulebook -- the calorie exemption applies to the day after your birthday as well, as long as it's the same cake. Enjoy!

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  10. What a great story, I completely giggled! Sorry its belated now but hope you had the most happy birthday!

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  11. I hope you had the happiest of days! Great story of your initial birthday. I'm with you on the birthday calories. Since my day is just around the corner, I may need to put the rule to good use. :-)

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  12. Happy belated birthday!!!!! Hope you had a great day with tons of cake :) Love the memory of the boiling water. Wonderful story to share.

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