I had a good friend who would begin announcing the number of shopping days remaining until his birthday about a month from the event. I always thought was rather humorous and have used that tactic myself on occasion. I was blessed to be able to have had another birthday this past Tuesday, Sept. 13. It was a nice day, and I always enjoy the pleasant birthday wishes from friends and family. Although my birthday isn't as much of a "big deal" to me now as it was in my youth, it's still nice to have a special day.
Some of you may know that I shared a birthday with my maternal grandmother, "Mama Mae" Brown. Those of you from Greenville probably remember Mama Mae. She lived to be well into her 90s and was a beautiful, gentle soul. I can't think of anyone who knew Mama Mae who didn't love her immensely. I always felt special to be able to share a birthday with Mama Mae.
I remember the year when my birthday fell on a Saturday and it happened to be the same Saturday that the new season of cartoons began. That was a huge treat that year. I think my birthday present was a new "Hot Wheels" race car set. I still remember the smell of the new plastic of the race track as I opened the package. Then, there was the birthday when I received a "Free Spirit" 10-speed bicycle. It came from Sears, and I remember the store manager wanting to charge my father extra because the only remaining bicycle was a floor model and he was going to charge my father an "assembly charge." My dad explained to the manager that, in order to avoid the charge, they could disassemble the bicycle and put it into a box. The store manager actually raised doubts about my father's ability to reassemble the bicycle when we returned home. After explaining to the manager that he had worked his way through the University of Florida, where he studied mechanical engineering. At Sears, assembling bicycles, the manager had a change of heart and allowed us to bring the bicycle home, fully assembled. I think I must have put close to 100 miles on the bike the first day I had it. Most days, I would ride the bike to school and would put untold miles on it on most Saturdays, riding downtown to the movies or to the city pool in the summertime.
I have many wonderful birthday memories, although my recollections of the first one are a bit hazy. I hope to have many more birthdays in the future. Remember, there are only 362 shopping days until my next birthday.