Michael's Birthday

Last night, November 28, Mary and I celebrated our son Michael's thirty-first birthday, along with our daughters Gina and Jill, Michael's girlfriend Lindsey, and Lindsey's mom Marcia. We went to the birthday boy's favorite Indian restaurant, Gandi Mahal off of east Lake Street in Minneapolis, where we shared a few appetizers and seven or eight entrees. The two hours we spent there went by very quickly. The food was scrumptious, cards and presents were opened, stories were told, and there were lots of laughs. Mary brought huge cupcakes from Yum for dessert, and we all sang "Happy Birthday" to the man of the hour. Too bad most Monday nights aren't as much fun.

Michael was born on the Friday after Thanksgiving Day in 1980. Mary and I had heard that the time in labor for a mother delivering her second child typically went much faster than the first, so we weren't taking any chances. At the earliest signs that "this might be it," we scurried down to Fairview Southdale Hospital in Edina at about 5:00 p.m. that Friday, only to be told by the medical staff that the arrival of our baby would probably be hours later. The doctor even told us to walk around Southdale Mall for a while and then come back. We were rather incredulous at this news, but we did as told. One of our stops at Southdale was Swenson's Ice Cream Parlour. A few hours later we were back at Fairview, and Michael was born around 11:35 p.m.

My mother, Pook, used to call me in the morning every October 30 and sing "Happy Birthday" over the phone to me. She never failed to mention, during the course of those morning conversations, that I was born at 2:40 in the afternoon, and so I was not officially one year older until that same time of day. When we dropped Michael, Lindsey and Marcia off tonight, I happened to glance at my car radio. The time was 9:03. I thought about telling Michael as he got out of the car that he would not officially become thirty-one for another hour and a-half, but decided against it. I am not sure why. I guess for now I'm just going to let it be something that Pook used to do.