Happy Birthday to Me - 50th (1997)

                                                                                                          

                                          I wrote this directly to Mags, but I'll go ahead and share it with you.

For my 50th I decided to hold a birthday party for 50 of my nearest and dearest female friends and family. I told Larry about it and told him not to have a party for me (remember this). So, I rented the lovely Todd Hall. Not all of the 50 could attend of course, but there were around 35 women - my girl scout leader, a teacher, my aunt, sister, my "eight-grade girlfriends", new friends and several storytellers. 

We had a delicious meal and then paraded with candles to the wonderful Thomas More building. It's octagonal with glass all around and a fire place (didn't use since it was the 19th of August). Everyone put their candles on the window sills. As the sun set the tiny lights reflected two or three times in the glass - magical. I had a wreathe of 6 candles. I lit candles for those women who could not be here - my mother was in a nursing home, my mother-in-law, some teachers, my daughter, Amy, in CA,  and my other former girl scout leader. I lit the candles and thanked them for their gifts.

My daughter, Chrissie, emcee'd the event. I asked five of my friends (one from each decade of my life) to write a little story about our time together. It was heartwarming and hysterical. We laughed, we cried.

One of my friends made an instant scrap book of the event. She took Polaroid pictures and had everyone write a little note to me on colored paper. After she gave this to me, I spent weeks putting the cards I had received, the notes and the pictures together. It's one of my most prized treasures.

I told everyone that my present to them was the meal, but if they wanted to give me a present, I asked if they would stay the night at Todd Hall for a slumber party. Many did, but we only stayed up a short time. We were just too drained from the party! After breakfast the next day, we left. I went to see mom at the nursing home. It was her birthday. She turned 86. We said the rosary together. It was her last birthday. She died just two months later.

Now, that would be the end of the story...but, remember, I told you that I told Larry not to have a party for me. Well, he didn't listen to me. He was already planning a party when I talked to him. So, I was completely....completely surprised when the Sunday before my birthday, Chrissie asked me to go up to the park and see some friends who were celebrating an anniversary. When I got there, there were so many people! I burst into tears and didn't stop crying for the whole event.

Larry has this way about him that when he gets something in his craw, and it doesn't work out, he goes crazy. He had this idea of finding all these old pictures of me and making slides then having music played in the background as he showed them. The slides did not turn out. Then the sheet he put up to show them didn't work - too much wind and sun. He was going turnips when Chrissie stepped in (she has always known how to handle Larry). She said, "That's it! This is what we are going to do!" She and Brian held the pictures and danced to the music as they showed them to everyone. It was...performance art that can never be duplicated. It was so sweet. so funny. We laughed and laughed. Nothing could ever have been any better. Every once in a while Chrissie would yell out "Close up" and she and Brian would dance close to someone and show the picture in his/her face.

That was seven years ago. They say that every seven years you develop into a new person. So, I look upon turning 50 with great joy.

I look upon every decade of my life as a nesting doll. Each decade adds a new layer. Sometimes I crack open that doll and meet up with them once again when I tell my stories. Marilyn