Today is my bird-day. no, not my birthday... my BIRD DAY. What is a bird-day? Why, silly goose, it's your half birthday. Cheesh. Doesn't everyone know that?
Well, a few people do. All the kids in my neighborhood know precisely what a bird-day is. I expect, and this fills my heart with song, their children will know about it and celebrate theirs, and their kids will too. Now that's the kind of anonymous immortality I can go for.
The Origin of Bird-day
My husband Jim and I have celebrated half birthdays for thirty plus years. We like to mark the day, whatever day it is, so it was natural to celebrate half birthdays. Since Jim is rather gaga over penguins, we christened the day "bird-day". Much to my excitement one year I found a birthday card that had three rows of different birds on the front and "Happy Bird Day!" inside.
If you want to make me clap my hands and smile, and I am ever so darling when i do that, you will also take up the observance of each person's bird-day. I know a lot of adults who don't even celebrate their birthdays.. the best thign for them would be to start celebrating both, don't you agree?
What is our bird-day tradition? We pick the closest weekend and the bird-day boy or girl, or man or woman in our case, gets to call all the shots all weekend... whether we go out to eat, whether we go for a drive, whether and when we take a nap, that sort of thing.
The most miraculous phenomenon of bird-day is that on yours, whatever chronic illness you have goes away for the day! I'm diabetic.. but I get to eat candy on my bird-day.
Oh c'mon. It's only one day a year. Or two.
For the record today I am 60-1/2 years old.
