Stories of Life

BIRTHDAYS THROUGH THE AGES

by Diane Dettmann

While paging through our family photo album where my mother meticulously recorded the daily events of our lives, I came across a black and white picture of my birthday on July 7, 1952. The snapshot quickly drew me back to the yearly childhood celebrations of my brother Tom and me getting older. I remember how every year as a child I looked forward to my birthday. The minute I woke up on party day I was giddy with excitement 

Money was tight when I was a child, but my mother always found a way to plan a party with homemade layer cake, candles and games. The cake was always delicious, a special treat normally reserved for Sundays and holidays. Colorful balloons dangled from the dining room light fixture while cousins and neighborhood friends gathered around the round oak table covered with a white linen cloth. As soon as the last few crumbs of chocolate cake disappeared off our plates, my mother and aunt set up the games. My favorite was Drop the Clothespin in the Bottle. Each child had a chance to kneel on a dining room chair and drop clothespins in the glass milk bottle. The child who got the most clothespins in received a small prize. After my mother gave directions for the next game we all scrambled around the house searching for hidden peanuts behind doors, under furniture and in bookcases. With peanuts stuffed in our pockets, we lined up to play Pin the Tale on the Donkey. Before the last guest left at the end of the party, I was already looking forward to my next birthday!

 As the years passed those annual celebrations took on a new shape and meaning for me. I still looked forward to the special day, but each birthday reminded me of how many years had already passed. In 1977 believe it or not I dreaded the thought of turning thirty! It seemed so old to me back then. Luckily my angst was softened with a delicious dinner at Charlies Restaurant Exceptional in downtown Minneapolis with my husband John. Dining out became our birthday tradition and sharing time together our gift to each other.

In June 2000, when my loving husband John died a week before my fifty-third birthday, I didn’t care if I ever had a birthday again. But when my sister arrived on the morning of July 7th with a cake and gift, I blew out the single candle on top surrounded by pink frosting and tried my best to enjoy the day. During the years that followed I spent some birthdays alone and others going out to lunch or dinner with friends and family.

This year, as the seasons passed by wrinkles on my face and neck seemed to appear out of nowhere. Every time I hit the selfie icon on my phone and saw my face in the camera I thought, Yikes! Is that me? Where did that youthful Diane go? This year on my 70^th birthday, I thought about my brother, parents and grandmother who never made it to that milestone. I miss them deeply. Now when I look in the mirror, I’m grateful for those wrinkles and look forward to each new day I’m given. Celebrating birthdays is a gift!

Diane is the author of two memoirs: Twenty-Eight Snow Angels: A Widow's Story of Love, Loss and Renewal and Miriam Daughter of Finnish Immigrants. She has also written two award-winning historical novels: Courageous Footsteps: A WWII Novel and Yasu's Quest: A Tale of Triumph. The two books engage readers in the history of the Japanese internment camps and life in post WWII America. On Liberty's Wings, the third book in the series coming Fall 2017. More information at http://www.outskirtspress.com/footsteps