Friday Five

Friday Five: Birthday Edition

Martha Spong

As posted by kathrynzj at RevGalBlogPals:

There’s a birthday for an adult member of my family today. I will admit, I’m not very good at celebrating birthdays. Sadly, the adults in my life have suffered from this affliction. I do manage to rally for my son (now age 7). 

I could bore you with my own personal history of birthday laments which may have led to this attitude… but I won’t (you’re welcome). Instead I’d love to hear your birthday memories.

As the birthday girl mentioned above, thank you!

1) What is the first birthday you remember? 

My minister’s son (Hi, David!) and I share a birthday, both year and date, and we had a marvelous joint party in his backyard when we were about 5 years old. I *adored* his mother; really I wanted to be Mrs. Kersey when I grew up. Anyway, having a party at their house was the pinnacle of my preschool years. It was May 4, and it was sunny, and we had fun with bubbles. It was spectacular!

2) Do you recall a favorite gift? 

Yes, when I turned 7, my friend Peter Whitehead gave me a kitten. This was not my mother’s favorite birthday present ever, at least at first. But he grew into a fierce and amazing cat who kept the neighborhood dogs out of our yard. I named him Pinkle Purr, after the poem in A.A. Milne’s “Now We are Six,” a favorite Christmas present.

It’s possible he cultivated a fierce personality to make up for his ridiculous name.

3) Has anyone ever tried to surprise you for your birthday? Did it work? Was it fun? 

Nope. If I say I would be open to a surprise in the future, will that ruin the chance anyone would ever do it?

4) Do you have a favorite birthday dessert? 

I love birthday cake. It’s been a long time since I had an excuse for having a homemade birthday cake for anyone, since we tend to go out for a meal. But I have fond memories of homemade cakes, both the ones I’ve received and the ones I’ve made (even from scratch!), and I hope to find many opportunities to make them in the future as my opportunities seem to be expanding.

5) Describe what would be your ‘perfect birthday’.

It would be fun to have all my beloveds in one place for my birthday. Maybe when I reach a milestone year again. (But that is FAR away!) For now I’m happy to have had Birthday Eve dinner with kathrynzj last night and looking forward to an evening spent with LP after we take kzj to the airport later. And both boys have checked in by phone. This makes me a happy birthday girl.

Published by Martha Spong

Martha Spong is a United Church of Christ pastor, a clergy coach, editor of The Words of Her Mouth: Psalms for the Struggle, and coauthor of Denial is My Spiritual Practice (and Other Failures of Faith) with Rachel Hackenberg.

24 thoughts on “Friday Five: Birthday Edition”

  4. Happiest of birthdays to you! I think making a birthday cake for yourself whenever you would like a little cake-with-frosting would be perfectly fine! So glad to know of another AA Milne fan, too.

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  11. Happy birthday! And there is absolutely no reason NOT to have home-made birthday cake, even if you do go out for a meal!

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