It's My Birthday! It's My Birthday!

I started to think about my past birthdays. I don't remember many of them. The earliest one I recall---and probably only because of the pictures---I think I was about 6 or 7. I was sick. We were all around the table and I was in my pajamas. I didn't blow out candles that time. Still, I had a birthday cake. (Side note: 6 of us had birthdays in January and February. We loved having so many birthday cakes!)

Next would be this one:

I'm 8 here. I had my first birthday party with school friends. I got this really cool Mickey Mouse pencil box---you know the one with the snaps and a drawer that contained colored pencils, little ruler, pencil sharpener, scissors and little flag stamps? It looked something like this.

Well, I loved that little pencil box. I think I actually had it for about 5 minutes. My brother, Ronnie liked it too. He blackmailed me. He said if I didn't give him the pencil box, he was going to tell dad all the stuff he had on me. I gave him the box. When my dad asked about it, I told him that I didn't want it and gave it to Ronnie! I'll have to ask him if he remembers that!

Next would be when I was 17. (I'm not 17 here, but it's a good picture of Ronnie and I). He threw me a surprise party. Here's the thing. He told everyone that I liked the Mamas and the Papas. I didn't. I got him back later in the month on his birthday. I told our friends that he liked the Temptations.

He didn't. We traded and all was well.

I remember my 21st birthday because I wanted to go dancing and all the places you had to be 21. I ended up getting mad because it was my birthday and we ended up bar hopping! I never really liked the bar scene.

I'm a little older here, but the next birthday I remember was my 31st. Who gets a surprise party for their 31st birthday? I saw Yentl with my, then, best friend, Caryn. When we got home, I was really surprised! Butch planned it and made all the food. But then he served it in Tupperware rather than my good bowls. Still, it was a great party. Sandy and Stephanie helped him.

These little cuties played a key roll on my 35th birthday. They are 3 here. I was babysitting Mindy's friend, Leigh. They were playing with our cat---Astro. Apparently they were fighting over her---tugging and pulling on her. She got away and let's just say, she had an accident all over the kitchen! As I was on my knees cleaning and retching due to the stench, I was crying, feeling sorry for myself, "I can't believe I'm cleaning up s**t on my birthday!" That was definitely memorable!

And then there was my surprise 40th birthday party that Connie threw for me. All of our friends were there and we played games all night!

I've had plenty of birthday celebrations and many great gifts. But these are the ones that stand out in my mind!

What birthdays do you remember?