Hindsight in 2020 #2: Birthday Time

I turned thirty-one this month. Funny thing is, most days I wake up and I still feel like I did when I was eighteen. Although I certainly don’t look it, I feel young the majority of the time. It’s only after playing basketball with some foul happy eighth graders, or not getting a whole lot of sleep because of a fussy baby, or eating too much that I feel my age weighing on me. About ten pounds too much weighing on me.

My wife, Lisa, surprised me for my birthday with a pair of incredible wireless, noise cancelling headphones. She saw I had something similar on an Amazon wish list and provided me with a very gracious gift. That’s just who she is. She looks for and wants to get the perfect gift. Not just ‘a gift’, but ‘the gift’. She made me feel very special on my birthday. Birthdays are made for feeling special.

As my birthday was coming around, I began thinking about birthdays from years past.

One of my birthday parties as a young boy was held at a local skating rink. Man, I used to love to rollerblade back in the day. I can remember when the dirt road my family lived on was paved. I rode my bike and rollerbladed down the road all day long. My friends, Ryan and Keaton, would run the streets and the paths of the golf course after school until the sun went down. So, at the skating rink birthday party, they had a mascot that would skate around with the kids. I’m pretty sure it was a big, padded kangaroo with a long tail. And this mascot would actually don a pair of skates and roll around with these ten and twelve year olds on the rink. Well, one of my friends actually pulled Roller Roo’s tail and caused him to crash! The DJ, most likely playing Backstreet Boys or NSYNC, came over the intercom and requested, “Please don’t pull Roller Roo’s tail”. My dad still quotes that DJ to this day. “Please don’t pull Roller Roo’s tail.”

My first ‘boy/girl’ party was held at my house for my thirteenth birthday. Friends from my sixth grade class were invited to play football, jump on the trampoline and eat. I can vividly remember cutting flips in our backyard on the trampoline while listening to the ‘Country Grammar’ album by Nelly. We were too cool for school. After the sun went down, my dad took us for a walk around the golf course. At night. With twenty sixth grade kids who thought they were ‘the stuff’. He told us some story about a red light in the woods and that story had us all shook up! God bless my dad for putting up with all of us that night.

For my thirtieth birthday, my wife surprised me with plane tickets to New York City. The following June we did the unthinkable. We traveled from South Carolina to New York City and back in one day. That’s right. Round trip. One day. It was a blast! Yes, we were tired to the max when we got home; however, we had so much fun. I saw the New World Trade Center, Times Square and Trump Tower all in one day. I ate pizza downtown, we rode the subway (after getting lost a couple of times), and even took a picture with a man dressed as Batman who then asked for a tip of twenty dollars. He did not receive that tip. My wife even got a free hip-hop CD that wasn’t really free! She claims it’s a good CD. It really isn’t. That trip was one I will not soon forget.

Here’s the thing about all of my birthdays from years past: they were special. Not because of the gifts I received; although, I really do like those new headphones! My parents, despite not being wealthy, always had something special for us on our birthday. Do I remember every birthday gift they gave to me? No. But they always had one. Do I remember every birthday party they held for me? No. But I bet they always had one. I tell you what I do remember though. My parents always made it a point to celebrate my birth. They treated my birthday like a celebration. Not just celebrating the fact that they kept me alive for another year. Not just celebrating that I was a year closer to leaving the house and being on my own. No. They celebrated my birthday like they were happy to have me as their child. My birthdays were special because the people around me made me feel special.

How my parents celebrated my birthday is how I want to celebrate my wife and kid’s birthdays. I want them to feel special because I feel special to have them. I want my kids to know that I love them, not by receiving awesome gifts, but by making them feel special on their special days and all other days.

As I turn thirty-one and enter my thirty second year of life, I want to remember the special feeling my parents and wife give to me and give that same feeling to my family. Thank you mom and dad for making me feel special and loved. Thank you Lisa for making me feel special each and every day. And thank you to my two beautiful children. I love being your dad you two are special in every way.

Happy Fryeday everyone!