Friday, May 03, 2013

Yearly Events


It takes a long time to grow young.
--Pablo Picasso



Four friends celebrate birthdays together and have done so for several decades.

When it's your birthday you pick the restaurant and the shared dessert.And no one argues with your choice or suggests other options. One birthday we ate at a place that only served raw food dressed up to replicate familiar dishes. Once I picked a Russian restaurant that had a slim menu with very little choice for vegetarians.

There's always a gift and a card as well as the raising of glasses and the wishing of birthday wishes.

There's the early morning call with a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday. Sometimes, depending on the singers, there's two part harmony.

Since I'm tone deaf I always consider it kind that no one mentions my quirky rendition.

Round birthdays mean additional celebrations-- we've gone on boat trips, played a golf tournament complete with prizes and we're the only participants. We've gone to Provincetown when the weather was not conducive for anyone but Eskimos and walked on the beach.

It's nice to anticipate these celebrations and all the rituals.

We never forget that despite one's age there's a specialness about celebrating the day you began this journey.

Just because you may not wear a party hat and release balloons doesn't mean that you don't enjoy being the center of attention.

Tonight we four friends celebrated Pat's birthday at restaurant of her choice and toasted her new year.

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