November is for birthdays
When I was little I felt it was a big deal for kids to have “birthday buddies”. I think there were a lot of kids my age who had birthday parties together, or who were really excited about sharing a birthday month. I was good friends with twins so it may have been a ploy by their parents to make their birthdays seem special. Who knows? But the month of November is cold and boring – seriously from the highs of Halloween to that moment when Thanksgiving hits and we all jump on the party train chugging along all the way to Christmas and New Year’s Eve, there’s a pretty low spot in November. It felt lame as a kid. I was the lone birthday in the cold, dry November wasteland between holidays. The one little bright spot: it always seemed to snow on (or very close to) my birthday.
As I got older, sharing a birthday seemed much less of a priority – sort of like how often we thought we’d run into earthquakes and quicksand. As our family grew and extended, it seemed more and more November birthdays were added to the list. I now get to celebrate the month with so many family members, I almost forget my birthday is in there sometimes – and I still often get my snow.
This year, we were still getting over covid symptoms so I chose a pretty low-key celebration. We had breakfast at La Mie, my favorite little French bakery in Des Moines. Ben had show choir choreography camp all day. So, Sam, Jeff, and I spent a little time breathing in the warm, fresh, earthy-scented air of the Botanical Center. I love just walking around that place when I need some rejuvenation.
In the evening, Jeff baked me a chocolate cake while I face-timed with the girls and was serenaded with a birthday song by their beautiful voices including Sam taking the low notes. I played Stick Fight with my guys and heard from lots of friends and family. It was a quiet day, shared with people I love, in a month celebrating lots of lives I care about – and I got my birthday snow.
