There are many moments in my life that I hold dear and there are other moments that I consider to be utterly sacred. The dear moments are those that are etched into my heart. Like the times when someone went out of their way to do something special for me. Times when I laughed so hard I cried. Times that made me stand back and say, "Wow, that was amazing."
One of those such moments was my 17th birthday. I don't know why that day popped into my head today since my birthday's not until October, but it did.
It was an ordinary day and I was a senior in high school. I can't remember the specifics of the morning except the fact that my parents appeared to have forgotten that it was my birthday. I sat at the kitchen table in awe. How in the heck could my own parents forget my freakin' birthday?! I hopped into my '81 Cutlass Supreme and drove the mile to school in a huff.
When I got to school, I was greeted with birthday wishes from my closest friends in the hall. My mood brightened a bit. Until.....I was late for first hour and received the first (and only) detention of my high school career. To say that I was ticked off would be an understatement.
The school day for seniors ended sometime around 1:30 and I couldn't wait to get out of there. Knowing me and my hot temper, I'm sure I was planning to give my parents a piece of my mind when I got home. All of that was forgotten the second I opened my car door. Tucked lovingly into one of the openings in my steering wheel was a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a small, clear ornament that held a tiny teddy bear inside.
I can't tell you what kind of flowers they were -most likely carnations since they were my favorite - but I still have the little teddy bear in the plastic ornament. I only wish I could find the card that was attached because I remember it saying something like, "How could we ever forget our baby's birthday?" (No matter my age, I will always be "the baby" of the family.)
That was my mom. All day long I had felt like Samantha Baker in Sixteen Candles...except my mom really didn't forget my birthday. She had probably been planning this for days and I know it had to kill her not to sing Happy Birthday to me the moment I woke up.
Gosh, I miss hearing mom sing to me on my birthday.
