Just Another Day...?

Birthdays Passed

...my eighteenth birthday. Having a terrible cold, unable to taste the cake and still finding my niche at college. My main concern--would I find friends? When would the cold end? Why did my roomate think having a kitten in a tiny dorm room would not be a problem?

...my nineteenth birthday. Being taken to dinner at the Old Wharf Inn by my friends. Again, with a cold. Unsure about what I should major in, if I should encourage a particular suitor.

...my twentieth birthday. Only a year but so much older. Hoping against hope that the guy I like will unbend enough to give me a birthday kiss. Legal in NY and so drinking as much as possible to make up for lost time. Going to a party and only realizing the next day that I had lost a shoe.

...my twenty first birthday. Driving to Winterthur and back, buying asti spumante , drinking it in the college library while watching Purple Rain on VHS with my best friend. Having a satire reading with champagne and friends, I am firmly in control of my destiny and myself, a 180 degree change from the previous year.

...my twenty second birthday. My world in ashes but for one factor-- the person who walks all the way to the Acme in the rain to get my birthday cake.

...my twenty third birthday. Staying up all night watching Star Wars movies with a friend.

...my twenty fourth birthday. Being driven to the wilds of southern Ohio to meet uber Pentecostalists and making the fatal mistake of accepting proposal.

...my twenty fifth birthday. On the same road in southern Ohio, trapped on the side of the road in a near totalled Chevette.

....my thirtieth birthday. Going out the night before to Outback because despite my request a year before, my husband had booked a job and would be out of town on my birthday. However, a a special boon, i request that no cellphones or pages are to be answered during the meal, but evidentally this is too extreme a boon to be granted.

...my fortieth birthday. Enjoying the cake that a co-worker brings in for me as well as the good wishes of others.

...my forty first birthday. Going shopping and anticipating an imminent trip to see the object of my affection, which turns out to the "the last time," to quote the Stones.