Birthday May 23, 2023 and Others I Remember

A Birthday Present from My Daughter

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Birthday.  May 23, the day I of my birth.  I imagine Mother's relief as I slip from her womb and she hears my first cry.  Her first pregnancy ended in a stillbirth.

Birthday party.  Pinatas and presents and ice cream and cake.  The year I am four, a friend gets sick and has to cancel her birthday party.  Oh no, I think.  Without a party, she won't get any older.

Birthday.  The warmth of spring.  May 23 is the first day each year that I'm allowed to go barefoot outside, feel the prickly grass on my feet and smell the magnolias blooming in our yard.

Birthday.  May 22,  the day my baby sister is born, ripped from Mother's belly by Caesarian section.  While Mother is in the hospital, a bird flies down our chimney and swoops around our living room, resulting in my lifelong fear of birds.

Birthday.  The year I am 20, when I should be celebrating the transition from teenager to adult, but I am lying flat on my stomach in the women's burn ward at John Sealy Hospital in Galveston, awaiting the next skin graft.

Birthday.  August 28, the day ny daughter is born, an exhilarating and day when I become responsible for another human being, who would teach me how to be a mother.

Birthday, April 9, the day my son is born, all 9 lb. 13 1/2 oz. of him.  Hard to believe he just turned 60.

Birthday.  November 26, Thanksgiving, the day my granddaughter is born and I watch her dash into the world.

Birthday.  My 70th, spent alone while my husband is in the hospital, slowly dying from leukemia.  This is my worst birthday.

Birthday 2023.  I hope to enjoy all the birthdays I have left.