Happy Birthday, Leah!
My dear friend, Leah (whose Birthday is just days apart from mine), and I used to throw Birthday Parties together, and combine our ages in the invitations. This is an invitation I drew for our 62nd Birthday Party at my Greenwood house in Seattle.
This tradition of combined Birthday ages began (informally) at my 30th Birthday Party the year before. My party was on the weekend before my Birthday, and happened to fall, if I remember correctly, exactly on Leah’s Birthday. I remember that Leah arrived at my house with some friends, and that we (in typical good-natured playfulness) decided that we ought to be celebrating both our Birthdays that night. (It was her Birthday, after all — Why should I get all the attention?) It seemed a mutually beneficial arrangement for both of us: All our Dear Friends converging in a single location on the same night with lots of Presents for Both of us! This tradition endured for the remaining years we both lived in Seattle.
I’m a big fan of Birthdays. I like to make them last as long as possible. I even love Half-Birthdays, (which Leah and I shared with a good Party in August, just a few weeks before I left Seattle). My wife and I share half-Birthdays (we really do!), which is great, because whenever it’s one of our Birthdays, it’s the other’s Half-Birthday.
My college housemate and long-time friend, Mark, share the exact same Birthday, and we celebrated our 21st Birthdays together at the Franklin House. (I shared a picture of that night in an early post back in October called “Kitchen Jam, 1989”.) Although Mark and I live far apart from each other now, he and I shared a Birthday Party together again just last year here at my house! It was a wonderful reunion!
So, concerning Birthday Week: (It’s like “Shark Week” on Discovery Channel, only More Fun, and without the Sharks) — Each day this week I’ll post a Birthday Invitation to my various Birthday parties over the years. Many of you will remember some of those parties: The ones that had good dance themes, the ones broken up by the cops, the one with the disco ball and the game of Twister…. etc…..
Good memories for you, I hope. They are great memories for me.
Happy Birthday, All!
Steve
Happy birthday, Stephen!
Thank you, Alison! It's not really my Birthday until the 12th, but I generally celebrate for at least a week!