They say it's your birthday. It's my birthday too!
My mother refers to the year I was born as the year she didn’t get a cake.
She was born three minutes before the arrival of her twin brother. As twins, they shared not only their birthday, but everything related to birthday celebrations.
They shared a party. They shared presents. They shared cake.
Most years my mother did not get to choose what kind of cake she wanted. When she grew up, she was determined each year to have a birthday cake of her choosing.
And she did. Until I came along.
My mother spent her 24th birthday in the hospital, in labor with me. She wasn’t thrilled about it, but it was Friday, she was two weeks overdue, and her doctor wouldn’t let her wait any longer.
I was born at 5:33 pm. When my dad called the family to tell them about the safe arrival of their baby daughter, my mother’s family rushed from my uncle’s birthday celebration to the hospital to meet me. In their haste, they forgot to bring my mother a slice of birthday cake.
I always called it the year she got the gift that keeps on giving.
I loved sharing a birthday with my mother! Not only was it a great story I could tell, but the cake game was unmatched. She was determined that I would always get a birthday cake of my own, so I always got to choose.
If I wanted yellow cake with chocolate frosting and rainbow sprinkles and she wanted strawberry shortcake, we had two cakes.
If I wanted ice cream sundaes and she wanted chocolate cake, we had two treats!
It was the best!
As I grew older, we started adding more fun things to our birthday celebrations - a trip for pancakes before school, special outings in the afternoon, time just the two of us (and sometimes my birthday uncle).
I told my mother that I loved sharing a birthday so much, someday I’d have a baby on our birthday.
(I’m sure you can guess what she thought of the idea!)
But years later, that’s exactly what I did. It required a bit of math, a fair amount of luck, and a lot of coaxing the doctors to agree to deliver her on my birthday.
It was a Saturday, I knew I’d need a C-section, and the hospital doesn’t schedule surgeries for the weekend. So my doctor told me to show up and he’d try to work me in.
I checked in at the hospital and waited in the lobby for hours. Finally the doctor came out and apologized, “This is the busiest day in Labor and Delivery this hospital has seen in 40 years. There are women birthing babies in the hallway. I’m really sorry. I won’t be able to deliver your baby today.”
The way I remember it, I stood up and growled at the doctor, “Today is my birthday. I will not leave without my baby.” And I turned around and sat back down.
A little bit later, they magically found OR space and my beautiful little birthday baby came into the world.
My mom, teary eyed, came to see me in the recovery room.
“See, Mom. I told you the year I was born you got the gift that keeps giving. Happy birthday!”
That was the last time she mentioned not getting a cake.
Use these prompts as written or as inspiration to uncover what you need in your life this week. And know that I’m always here to support you and answer questions you have along the way!
How do you feel about your birthday?
How do you generally enjoy celebrating your birthday?
What was your most memorable birthday?
If you could plan the perfect birthday celebration, what would it look like?
What was the best birthday gift you ever received?
What was the best birthday gift you ever gave?
One Journaling Idea I Love:
The Birthday Journal
I was introduced to this idea by my friend Tim last year and decided to start one myself.
Choose a volume to serve as your birthday journal, and as the name implies, write in it each year on your birthday. Recap the best moments of this past year, what you learned, where you hope you’ll be this time next year, whatever is meaningful to you.
This would be a great journal to start for a child or grandchild - turn the book over to them when they’re old enough to keep up the tradition for themselves!
More Good Stuff
Good Things Come to Those Who Journal: The Livestream - Tuesday at 8pm Eastern. This week I’ll be sharing three simple journaling strategies that I consider building blocks of a solid journaling practice. Tune in to LinkedIn, YouTube, or Facebook.
This month’s Journaling Mini-Retreat is on Wednesday, May 17 at 7:30 pm Eastern. We’ll be talking about impact and purpose. Register for free HERE.
Happy Journaling!
Great story! I love the prompts and the idea of a birthday journal.
Wow, just WOW. Such an incredible story, Amanda - it’s taken my breath away! 🙌 What a very, very special thing to share. 🥳