Posts Tagged ‘cake’

Happy birthday

One year a friend made me THREE birthday cakes, so why am I complaining?

I’ve always wished I had a different birthday. Like November 7 with Marie Curie and Lise Meitner, or December 10 with Ada Lovelace and Emily Dickinson. Or imagine if I could have been born on February 15 with Susan B. Anthony, Galileo, actor John Barrymore, astronaut Roger Chaffee, and Alfred North Whitehead. Wow. Such a great day, no wonder I gave my first protagonist this birthday. (Gloria Lamerino was born on February 15 in an undisclosed year.)

Instead, I share the day with Charles I of Austria and Henry Scrapnel, British inventor of the shrapnel shell. There’s also Josephine Baker, Allen Ginsburg, Paulette Goddard, and Tony Curtis, but no one on my Heavenly Speed Dial list.

I got a bit of thrill finding out my favorite anchor man, Anderson Cooper blows out candles on the same day as me, but he neither knows nor cares.

When I taught physics in a traditional classroom (i.e., pre-e-learning), I celebrated all the great birthdays. One semester, we were able to find an excuse for a cake every Friday. A student would read a short paper she’d prepared on Henry Cavendish (October 10) for example. We’d have a discussion on the philosopher-chemist who’s thought to have discovered hydrogen, and then, yes, break out the cake and coffee. Those were the days.

I admit, this is not the first time I’ve whined about my nondescript birthday, but I promise it will be the last.

I guess it’s time to crowdsource the event and wish everyone out there, from here to Facebook, a happy birthday, no matter what day it is.