THE BEST BIRTHDAY EVER

The screen door suddenly flung open, causing her to look up from the chair where she sat curled up with her feet up under her. We were home from school, loud and eager to be free of our school clothes. As we all clamored through the door, Mom asked each one of us how our day went and if anything interesting had happened. As children, we didn’t notice that she was somewhat pale and moving just a bit slower than usual. We went on in our normal routine, throwing our book bags down on the table. Each of us emptying its contents; each of us producing papers to be signed and displaying those we were proud of. In her own wonderful mom way, she congratulated every one of us individually and beamed with pride at our hard work. One by one, we disappeared to our rooms to change our clothes and then start our homework. That was the rule. One by one, we all re-appeared at the kitchen table with our books and assignments in hand. As we gathered at the hub of our home, our mom started preparing dinner. She was always close by in case we had a question or needed help. She should’ve been a teacher. Every day passed the same as the last and we were none the wiser.

One afternoon, about a month after school had started, Mom took me aside. I thought for sure I had done something wrong, for there was no other reason I could think of for why I had been singled out. Much to my surprise and relief, Mom sat me down and said, “Your birthday is coming up soon. What would you like for your birthday?” WHEW! I let out a sigh so loud that it could have been heard all the way into town! It was true. My birthday was coming up. I was so proud because I was going to be a Big Girl this year. I was going to be seven!

Every year we were allowed to ask for one gift and Mom would cook our favorite meal for dinner. Anything we wanted! It was our day and Mom and Dad always made it special. I thought long and hard about what I wanted. It was an important decision! “Can I have a Betsy Wetsy doll?” I asked excitedly. I could hardly contain myself. “Are you sure that’s what you want?” she replied. All I could do was nod my head repeatedly in agreement. “OK. We’ll see,” she said, trying not to smile. “And what would you like for your birthday dinner?” she continued. I knew right away exactly what I wanted. "Lasagna!” I blurted out. “With chocolate, chocolate cake!” I added. Mom made the best devil’s food cake with chocolate fudge frosting. It was my all time favorite. I think she added mayonnaise to the batter to make it extra moist. You could squish your fork into a piece of it and it would stick to your fork. So, it was settled. A plan had been made. Now I just need to be able to wait out the next couple of weeks. “I can do it," I told myself. "I can do it.”

After what felt like a year, it was finally the day. My Birthday! I was so excited, I could barely concentrate at school. Celebrating my birthday with my class made it all the harder. Passing out chocolate cupcakes to each of my classmates made me long for my chocolate, chocolate birthday cake I knew was waiting for me at home. That afternoon, as I pushed my way through the door, I saw it. There, on the counter, was my double layered chocolate, chocolate cake! I squealed with joy as I rushed over to get a closer look. The sweet heavy smell of chocolate fudge frosting filled the air. I wheeled around and hugged my mom’s legs in appreciation. She wrapped her arms around me with a gentle hug, kissed the top of my head and said with a smile, “Anything for you!” Success! It was my day and it was special.

The days turned colder and Halloween was right around the corner. Mom made our costumes, as usual, but it seemed to take her longer this year. Mom and Dad always went out on Halloween with us. Our neighborhood had the best candy for Trick-or-Treat! Mom didn’t run along with us as she had in past years. We had to wait for her to catch up. Even though that seemed out of the ordinary, it was nothing more than an inconvenience in our minds. We only noticed something was off when after two hours of watching us run from house to house, Mom was too tired to make it back home. Dad made us stay with her while he walked all the way back to our house to get the car. What was happening? What was wrong? Why wasn’t Mom running with us and having fun? Mom was never slow. We had to practically run to keep up with her long legs in the grocery store. This was her favorite time of the year. She said she was fine, trying to reassure us, but I could see something in her eyes I didn’t recognize. Dad finally showed up with the car and we all piled in. Everyone was quiet. We rode back in silence, sensing something was terribly wrong, but not knowing yet what it could be. That night there was no familiar laughter. Each of us would normally dump our stash out on the living room floor. Everyone tried to make a deal to trade for their favorites with Mom and Dad in the midst, snatching up a candy bar or two as they inspected the loot. No one felt like trading that night. We all just left everything on the table as Dad put Mom to bed.

The days that followed were difficult for us all. We were told that Mom was very sick and would have to have treatments at the hospital. We all pitched in around the house as much as we could. My sister and I would take turns washing or drying the dishes. The days passed and months felt like years. Mom was no longer able to be home after school, so we were all responsible to do our homework on our own. Christmas came and went and all we wanted was for our mom to get better. She put up a good fight, but she didn’t win that battle.

That was many years ago. I have since grown and had a family of my own. We often gather on Christmas Eve and sit around the tree with all the lights off except the twinkling strands and reminisce. We all recall a special memory or two and laugh and joke. One of my favorites is the last year I got a chocolate, chocolate cake for my birthday. That was the best birthday ever!