• HOME
  • Books & Publications
  • Talks & Workshops
  • Meet Carol
  • Contact: Media & Booksellers

BIRTHDAY BLESSINGS

8/30/2010

21 Comments

 
I’m embarrassed.  I wrote a personal essay called “Birthday Blues” which I included in the August chapter of All Nature Sings.  It was a tale of being forgotten on my birthday the year after my mom, Casey, died.  Even from the retirement center, she had never failed to send a card with $10 tucked inside to me, and each person within her large family, exactly on their day.  My siblings and I wondered if she was making up for our childhood birthdays.  The first three of the five of us had birthdays within one week’s time—but alas mine was first.  She would notice a sadness overtaking me and ask what was wrong.  “It’s my birthday and no one even cares!” I wailed.  “Oh, my, we’ll have to have a cake sometime this week to celebrate all your birthdays!”

    It was that all that got to me—I wanted my day to be special.

   The essay must have touched a universal nerve.  This August 28, my mailbox was filled with birthday greetings—so many feeling sorry for me, and maybe themselves, at the thought of being forgotten.  The cards were only the beginning—after getting long-stem multicolored roses from my husband, I was surprised by two impromptu celebrations—one with apple crisp (from one of those siblings) and then with lunch and cake and ice cream, served by three grandchildren, two of whom along with their mom also have August birthdays.

   Maybe I should not be embarrassed, only reminded.  Everyone wants to feel special one day of the year—not because of something they do but only because they live and are present among us.  My friends and readers, by their thoughtfulness, demonstrated again that every life is precious, including my own.
21 Comments
    Picture
    ALL NATURE SINGS  
    A Spiritual Journey of Place
    by Carol J. Rottman

    Join Carol's Mailing List

    Categories

    All
    9/11
    A Cup Of Cold Water
    Advent
    Beaver
    Butterfly Weed
    Children
    Climate Change
    Color-blindness
    Compass Plant
    Controlled Burn
    Creation Care
    Creative Non-fiction
    Cygnets
    Days Pass
    Detail
    Eagle
    Easter
    E.B. White
    Family
    Friends
    Frogs
    Garden Watch
    Giving
    Goldfinch
    Good Friday
    Grandchildren
    Home
    Home And Habitat
    House Plants
    Ice Storm
    IN-DOOR PLANTS
    Indoor Plants
    Inspiration
    Lent
    Life Continues
    Loss
    March In Michigan
    MID-WEST WINTER
    Milkweed
    Nature Notes
    Nature Watch
    Newspapers
    New Year
    NEW YEAR\\OUR HOPE
    Raspberry Bushes
    Sandhill Crains
    Simplify
    Snapping Turtles
    Snow Scenes
    Special Days
    Spider Web
    Starvation
    Sunrise
    Survival
    Swans
    Switch Grass
    Tall Grasses
    Thunder
    Travel
    Turtles
    Weather
    Wildflower
    Wild Life
    Winter
    Winter Beauty

    Archives

    April 2016
    March 2016
    March 2014
    June 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    October 2011
    August 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.