Memory Monday: Birthday Week

August has always been special to me. It's my birthday month! My dad's birthday. My sister's. Along the way, I picked up an anniversary and a son's birthday. It's a crowded month. And I'm just Leo enough to want everyone to help me celebrate.

But the one thing that always made my day more special (there's that Leo thing again), is that I share the date with my Dad. I was his 29th birthday present, or so Mother always said. I imagine she had something else tucked aside just in case I missed my debut date. In fact, my parents, because they couldn't agree on a name for me should I be a girl, had a bet on my name. (The boy name had Jr. tucked onto the end of it.) If I were born on Daddy's birthday, he could name me. If not, Mother, weighing the odds carefully I'm sure, could have the honor. I popped up (out?) at 9:26 AM and Daddy made her stick to it. The summer she died, the thing I missed most was her phone call at 9:26 AM to wish me happy birthday.

But in the middle were lots of birthday cakes and I ran across this photo from the year I was three. Daddy had his own cake here, whereas he hadn't the year before, so I liked this one best. This year, he won't know it's his birthday, so I'll have to do the remembering for us both.