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About 50% of Americans live within 50 miles of their birthplace. This is called propinquity.
And Now You Do
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3:21, ¶My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: keep sound wisdom and discretion:
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You know, growing up in the country, with eight brothers and sisters--nine of us in all plus Mom and Dad--birthdays were not really a big thing. With eleven of us, having a birthday party for every one would have cut seriously into work time and chore time. Even so, our parents, Mom particularly, always found some way to recognize each child’s birthday, generally not a party, but maybe a cake, maybe a Happy Birthday song, maybe a birthday card. There was really no set pattern, and I do not recollect that any single child got all three things—cake, song, and card.
Favorite foods were one way to recognize birthdays, with Mom taking the time and care to prepare your favorite dish for dinner or supper on your birthday. With me there was really no question. I always asked for Mom’s homemade angel food cake with cherry-flavored butter icing! Mom’s angel food cake was, to me, delicious beyond description, and if you have only had angel food cake from the grocery store or a bakery, you still have not the slightest conception of how delicious this desert can be! Dad would sometimes prepare his specialty, bread pudding with a marvelous orange-flavored sauce to pour over it, and I know there must have been requests for peach cobbler pie, which we ate with cream British style, not sweetened or whipped up into a froth.
I did have one birthday party, and it was on my actual birthday, June 8, 1952, the year I attained the age of twelve. Most of the boys from my 7th grade class were there—Chuck Cloud, Bill Bain, Marvin Henderson, Bud Hoffer, Kenneth Kimes, Eugene Conger, Eddy McNeese, Jerry Crofut, and Milton Cordell. We went down to the pasture and had a baseball game, actually about the same baseball game that we sometimes organized in the empty lot next to Bud Hoffer’s house, back of Chuck Cloud’s house, or beside Bill Bain’s house. It was great fun, though it was important to watch out for the mesquite shrubs with their thorns , and also for what we called the cow pies, especially the fresh ones!
Afterward, we went back up to the house and enjoyed a gallon of fresh homemade ice cream and a slice of Mom’s angel food cake. All this tasted pretty good after the baseball workout, and I do not recall any complaints. Perhaps you may be wondering how I can remember the details so well—the answer is that this was the only birthday party I have ever had!
With all her hard work keeping house and maintaining nine children in clothes and food and other necessities, plus the occasional birthday party, my Mom had never had a birthday party for herself, never, that is, until her 80th birthday in 1999. She really enjoyed it, so this year, ten years later, we gave her another birthday party, this time for her 90th birthday!
Our mother’s birthday was quite an event. All Mom’s children were there, all nine of us, three coming from way out of state, the others from various corners of Texas—Austin, Waxahatchie, Poteet, Hunt, and of course Kerens. Grandchildren came too, and great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews, Mom’s brother, and lots of people from church as well as neighbors around town. It was a delightful occasion, right on the farm where Mom feels most comfortable. The weather cooperated, and the temperature never rose above 95 degrees, which was actually pleasant in the shade of all the pecan and live oak trees which surround the farm house. Everything was set up outside on a Saturday afternoon, a few days later than Mom’s actual birthday, June 19th. There was food galore, all kinds of meat off brother Leland’s giant smoker grill, potato salad, pasta salad, casseroles of various descriptions, vegetable trays (including fresh tomatoes from brother Leland’s garden on the lower farm), fresh fruit, berry and peach cobbler pies, several big batches of homemade ice cream, and tubs of iced soda pop. It was a grand occasion, as much a family reunion as a birthday party, and I think we should resolve to repeat it annually. It will be worth the effort just so all of us can see the smile on Mother’s face!
If you have a surviving Mom or Dad, maybe even up in their 80s or 90s, I would advise giving them a birthday party! Don’t try to convince yourself that they would think it silly, that they might not like it. Don’t even pay attention if they try to discourage the event . . . just do it and watch the expression on their face! Birthday parties can be lots of fun, especially out in the country.
MADELINE VERNON ON THE OCCASION OF HER 90TH BIRTHDAY, ENJOYING HER BIRTHDAY PARTY.
Dr. Ivan R. Vernon
ivernon-ohio@att.net
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Average Score: 5
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