Shall-Remain-Numberless Candles

Well, yikes, I have a birthday coming up and I am willing to tell you THAT, but we are NOT going to talk candles. Dates of birth have always been special in my family. If you’ve read “Hey, God? Yes, Charles," you know ways that family and friends stepped in that first year to fill the void for my first birthday without Charles. They’ve been doing it ever since.

It means a lot to be remembered on your birthday. My mother celebrated mine for 20 years (we could credit my daddy too but we all know, with her cooking, he was just happy that I had been born and there was cake :) Then, one way or another, she and Charles did it for the next 38. But within five months of my 58th birthday, they were both gone.

I’m not going to say that my birthdays are just dandy. I miss the people who are no longer here. But, after 2007 and as long as he was alive, my dad never let one roll around without producing a cake and a present. And he always gave me a precious card autographed the same way: “Love, Dad” - and then he would sign his name - first and last. I get tickled now just thinking about it.

Other family and friends kick in too. Birthdays can linger for days! I’ve hosted a Coop Troop slumber party (that I didn’t know was going to happen in my condo which was so small we had sleepers on the porch AND at the neighbor’s next door.) I’ve been kidnapped by the Steel Got It Girls for relocation to Chicago (everybody on board that Southwest flight joined in the roast which pretty much took the cake.) I’ve been chauffeured and enrolled in art class by the Daisies. I’ve been treated to more fun meals and flowers and entertainment than I can count.

People are busy, this kindness is a big deal, and this blog is to thank all of you who never let birthdays – for anyone - pass unnoticed. Because the best gift of all is being remembered by the people we love. There are not enough candles to measure that.