Happy Birthday, Me!

June 10th is my birthday! 

You can do a math problem.  I was born in the year 1956.

Some happenings at the time were:

Dwight Eisenhower was President
the Summer Olympics Equestrian Events opened in Stockholm, Sweden
and Dean Martin, Harry Belafonte, and Doris Day had hit songs on the radio.

Also having a birthday today are Prince Philip of England, born in the year 1921 and actress LeeLee Sobieski, born in 1982 (she’s younger than my oldest son).

Over the years, I have a few favorite birthdays. 
My 13th the family was on vacation and happened to be going through Wisconsin.  In honor of the day, Dad stopped at a fried chicken stand, which happened to be across the road from an ice cream place.  This was much better than eating whatever Mom managed to fix on a camp stove.  What a sweet memory, sitting on the tailgate of the station wagon with grease on my fingers.  The corn plants in the field next to the ice cream store were getting just big enough to be waving in the breeze.  I didn’t know then that I would someday be living in the middle of corn country.
Normal from the Northwest

My 18th is one I get mixed up about.  So I looked at the year and some old pictures.  That was the time that my fellow church camp kitchen workers tossed me into the swimming pool with my clothes on.  It was quite a walk back to the Staff dorm, being dripping wet and all….
 
My 20th birthday, I was a student practical nurse doing my Med-Surg clinical rotation.  One of the porters (housekeeping personnel) was working a summer job in between years of law school.  He was so good looking, and did the job just fine, but seemed very out of place pushing a mop. 

When I went into the clean linen room for a sheet, I heard the door close behind me.  This was not supposed to happen during a busy morning.  I turned to say that someone was in the room, and there he was, a very handsome fellow with Italian genes and huge brown eyes.  “I heard it’s your birthday.” he said. 
He was so close I couldn’t breathe.  He slowly raised his hands and put one on my shoulder and one on my waist, then pulled me towards him, lowering his head.  I realized this god come to earth was about to kiss me!  Right there in the linen room, and me in my student green uniform!
The kiss was gentle, friendly.  He didn’t take his hands away right off, I think he knew I might have swayed on my feet.  A little half smile at the corner of his mouth, then he patted my shoulder, turned, opened the door and put in its stop, then walked out.  I couldn’t say a word, I just stood there like in a fog.  Much of the time, it does seem like a dream.  There were about 3 more weeks of clinicals that summer, and he acted as if nothing at all had happened.  He flirted with other students, and nurses and patients all in the same way.  He had a nice way to get along with people.
A couple years later, when I was working at a hospital, I had to do the paperwork for a new Admit patient.  The guy seemed very familiar somehow, but I could not quite capture the notion.  When I was about halfway through the questions, in walks my birthday kisser, in a suit.  And my, did he ever look like a lawyer.  He stopped in his tracks and stared at me a minute.  Then he said “Your birthday happens in the summertime, doesn’t it?” 
I nodded, just as mute as before.  Turns out, he and the new patient were brothers.

My 30th birthday was the most lucrative.  My father-in-law gave the family a new AMANA Radarange microwave oven.  Husband got a friend to use his employee discount and so they got me an Olympus camera as my gift.  That’s a story for another time, but I carried that little beauty for the next 18 years with very few problems.  The sons gave a new Swiss Army knife, which I have used at several jobs over the years.

Although flowers have already arrived, there are no great celebrations planned for today.  I will be doing my Intermediate Algebra homework while waiting for the dishwasher repairman.

This is me at age 3 months.  My mom says her hand was behind my head providing support.  My Aunt Doris made the dress.  She is a wonderful seamstress who also made my bridesmaids’ gowns for our wedding.

~~love and Huggs, Diane