Celebrating Birthdays
My mother’s birthday is on Valentine’s Day, which means that for the at least two years I have preferred to think of the day as “My Mother’s Birthday.”
My birthday is exactly a week after her’s. My father’s birthday is three days after mine. Meghan-Annette’s birthday is in June.
Thanks to when her birthday happens, it’s hard to take her out for dinner on her birthday, although a part of me would be curious if she wouldn’t mind going to Oscar’s, a burger place and bar we both love, during that weekend.
On my birthday, I enjoy going out to eat at a place nicer than my usual places to eat, which is why I said no to going to eat at Green Tea, as much as I love Green Tea. In 2011 my family took me out to Venus, a now-closed Greek restaurant, which is also where I celebrated my birthday in 2009. (In 2010 I spent my birthday weekend reviewing three plays, the highlight being that a critic of a different artform giving me a box of Thin Mints for my birthday.)
This year we decided to celebrate our birthdays jointly by going out to eat in Chicago. We found a festive Latin American restaurant and made reservations. I still decided to send her birthday present to get to Wisconsin in time for her birthday, a gift I purchased after taking her to Marbles the Brain Store to figure out what to buy her.
We get to celebrate our birthdays together this year, which feels like a nice return to the past when it felt like our birthdays overlapped as the days flew by with schoolwork.
