David Celebrates
Dear Ann,
In my life there are a lot of birthdays happening in the last half of the year. I guess the most important of all up to date this year is David’s 60th.
It is surprising how many birthdays in our family are celebrating a big one ending in ‘0’, which is always a reason for celebration. Trixie’s husband Bob, celebrated his 80th the same time as David was celebrating his 60th.
Then in December David’s cousin, Kassandra, celebrates her 60th also being just three months younger than David. They grew up together for the first few years until we came from Tasmania to live in New South Wales.
Also our little brother, Peter, who survived more than one war when in the army will also celebrate his 70th birthday in December.
And from where I sit & the experiences I have had, I don’t think males really like these advanced birthdays. Â While Philip ignores his age completely, David was not looking forward to his recent 60th & I recall Peter wasn’t looking forward ten years ago to his 60th either.
The idea was, the less fuss the better while us females like to make a little fuss! (Editor’s note: perhaps it’s the fuss that makes us men not like birthdays.) David was quite down in the dumps when his birthday was approaching, but when the time arrived he had warmed to the occasion & it was quite a joyous one.
Like the other males in the family he didn’t want a party so it was decided to celebrate it at our usual fortnightly family dinner. It was really nice with just Lauren, David, Charley, Riley myself.
David usually cooks the dinner on family nights,but Lauren let him off the hook offering to do it for him instead. She made the cake complete with candles & David lapped it all up as he should. The cake was beautiful & David took care in cutting the right sized portions for everybody after successfully blowing all the candles out in one puff so that his wish will come true!
David’s birthday cake
With his birthday being a few days after Father’s Day it certainly is a problem to know what to get a man who has everything, or if he doesn’t have everything & sees something he likes can afford to buy it for himself before anyone else gets the chance. Our brains get a bit rattly trying to think of something different.
I took my problem to Dan Murphy’s famous liquor store as I think you can get every kind of wine from any country in that place. I love going there. I have a bit of a passion for that type of store,with so much to choose from.
I elected to get one of Dan’s employees to give me some advice & ended up getting a carton of crisp white wine, showing that it had earned a few gold labels. It originates from New Zealand & I was informed it was very similar to David’s favourite wine that he scarcely ever deviates from. So I bought a full carton!
Dawn and David with the wrapped case of wine.
While in the store I saw some very attractive little gadgets which you put onto glasses when having a party, so that everyone knows there own wine glass. They are to be seen everywhere, but I took a liking to the ones I purchased. I thought them to be a good idea with David’s mid year Christmas Party in mind, which he holds for the street annually.
I had really wanted to get him something cute for his Kombi, which he is very proud of & very wrapped up in, but hadn’t had much luck until one day when I walked into my own pharmacy I saw a book which was titled How to drink WINE out of fish heads while cooking LOBSTER in a VOLKSWAGEN HUB CAP. I couldn’t have found anything better & felt very pleased with myself.
When it came time for the gift giving after dinner I told him to unwrap from the largest gift to the smallest gift, as I knew the cook book would take the cake. But first he had to read his birthday card which took me ages to select & this is what it said:
My son you are a gift & a blessing. Your birth was a joy & a blessing!
Having you in my life has provided me with my greatest opportunity for growth & for that I am grateful.
I have come to understand & accept that love has brought us together for a reason.
I have learned so much about myself from loving you & learning to accept you as you are.
Watching you grow & develop has provided me with some of my greatest joys
Watching you learn from your journey has taught me how to let go.
Your talents & potential are extraordinary & I give thanks for the gift of being your Mother.
Thank you for all that is uniquely you.
I love you Happy 60th birthday. Mum
IÂ think he loved his card, but sure enough when he opened up his parcel with his cook book in front of him he really did have a chuckle.
David unwraps his cookbook.
One of the reasons of why it appealed to me so much was that some months ago, when David was arranging for his Kombi to have a face lift, he was at a place chatting to somebody about Kombis who had two sons close to the same ages of about 10 & 12 years old. These two boys had built a business of making clocks out of old Komi hub caps.
Now who would have thought of that so David bought one, which hangs in his kitchen & looks very smart. So that’s why I thought he would enjoy his cook book even though I doubt if he will ever use it!
But anyway, who cares, it’s just a little something to show the fellow Kombi owners when they have their next bus stop which I think is going to be in Queensland.
So now my two little boys are over the hill advancing towards another decade & another big birthday ending in 0. You cannot stop old Father Time as he still marches on regardless.
A decade seems to go so fast & life goes on. What is gratifying to me though is that even though Philip & David are as different as chalk is from cheese they are now very much enjoying each other by keeping in touch regularly & enjoying seeing each other again as time permits.
I think the important thing with birthdays is to embrace them & for myself, I am old enough to be grateful that I am still here to celebrate birthdays & enjoy them. But then I am at the age where I embrace each day I am on planet earth!!
Love you dear heart. Dawn X O X O