Birthdays get stranger as they get older

Recently during a much needed clean up, I discovered an absolute stockpile of birthday cards, my first thought was……God All Mighty Woman, Let It Go….No point saving them for Nan to make her handkerchief boxes she is long gone, so won’t be needing them.The reality is when I have gone through the Pearly Gates my cards will be on their way to the bin, maybe not straight away but eventually, they will.So I bit the bullet and binned them myself.
Then my birthday came around again, and I kid you not my birthdays are coming quicker every year and even though getting older is far better than the alternative, the speed at which time is flying is frightening.I received a couple of funny cards, and I felt that old familiar feeling of wanting to keep them, so I made a spur of the moment decision, nd instead of putting them away in a drawer I decided to have a bit of fun with them.
I made the necessary changes to the card Mum gave me and sent it with an ugly t-shirt to a friend in America. I don’t know if the t-shirt will fit and I don’t know when her birthday is and I don’t care it’s not about being correct it’s about having some fun, hopefully, the reused card will tickle her funny bone.The card from my youngest is also on its way to America to be signed, then back to me to forward to England with another ugly t-shirt if everything goes to plan it should be good fun all round.
I remember quite a few years ago my friend’s 65th birthday was approaching and I was disappointed when he told me as an adult he had never been given a birthday cake.At that stage, he had heart, sugar and weight problems, so eating cake was out of the question, but I could not let another of his birthdays pass without him having one.I started baking the day before, he had no idea until he arrived for a coffee and saw me walking down the hallway singing Happy Birthday holding a double layered chocolate cream cake with 65 candles on it.His eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas morning he sat and looked at the cake on the kitchen bench for about ten minutes while the wax burned down into the frosting,h e made a wish and blew out the candles.I was very conscious of his health and with one foul swoop I managed to slide the cake off the kitchen bench straight into the rubbish bin.His eyes nearly came out of his head and then he started laughing, and for the next few months, he told everyone that would listen what I did to give him a laugh and a memory.He would have the biggest smile every time he spoke about it, he passed before his next birthday and if there is a God he will be eating all the chocolate cake he wants…….R.I.P.

Do you share our guest contributor’s feelings?  Do you have a similar tale?

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