What's in a Birthday

What’s in a Birthday?

There was a whole bunch o’ birthday celebrations this past week. In fact there’s a whole bunch more comin’ up in the next month – not countin’ the big one. That got me to thinkin’ about how things revolve over the years an’ come back full circle.

Everybody remembers throwin’ a big party for the child’s first birthday, except for the kid that is. Grandmas an’ Grandpas show up with all kinds o’ gifts. The aunties an’ uncles pile in with presents for the baby who hasn’t got a clue as to what’s goin’ on an’ starts to bawl with all the noise. After the party is all over mom has to clean up the mess in the kitchen an’ dad has to find a place for all the useless toys he can’t play with himself. It’s been a great party for all the adults an’ the birthday child is sound asleep as though nothin’ happened.

By the time the kid gets into kindergarten things have changed somewhat. Now the brat knows he/she is getting’ presents. An’ the presents are different too. They’re actually meant for kids an’ so they have a whale of a time playin’ with ‘em to the point that when it’s all over the house is a total wreck. (Well it’s only once a year).

A few years go by an’ the kids are now placing their orders for the gifts they want. It’s credit card time. An’ the older they get, the bigger the credit card bill. You just want to hope it don’t interfere with Christmas. A while back one of my grandsons ordered an ATM an’ he wanted it full o’ money too. Well that’s how these things go. When you get into the teen years you just give ‘em gift cards an’ send ‘em off to the mall. That beats embarrassin’ them an’ you an’ lets ‘em get more or less what they been hankerin’ for anyways.

Slowly as time goes by an’ the brats get older you see the tide turnin’. The parties have moved to the bar an’ the gifts are a lot smaller an’ they’re in for a few years of hangovers before the whole thing gets borin’ an’ not all that much fun anymore. It all seems to fizzle out a bit, which may have somethin’ to do with the threat of agin’.

Fast forward a few years an’ you find the kids are now hostin’ birthday parties for their parents. Well it’s about time too. I don’t know if the old folks can’t remember their birthdays or just don’t want to know about them nomore. Well, tradition’s gotta continue so they invite some of the parents friends an’ relatives to come for lunch an’ conversation. That’s pretty well as much as the old geysers can handle anyways. An’ it’s gotta be between two an’ four p.m. cause most old folks need a noon-time nap before all that activity, an’ none of ‘em drive in the dark afterwards neither.

So the whole business ends up as it once began. It’s come full circle as it were. We still got the same players as when the kids were little. The only difference is that now the kids know what’s goin’ on and the old geysers haven’t got a clue. They just sit there an’ jabber away enjoyin’ thereselves an’ in the end a good time was had by all. At least that’s how it seems to me from up here on the top shelf.

Just sayin’.