Birthday

My birthday is within a week.

While looking for something else recently, I came across a folder of old pictures that included some birthdays.

I've been meaning to scan some old pictures for a long time. Seeing hurricane evacuees talk about losing all their pictures made me want to do it all the more. Now I am inflicting them on you.


My first. Awww.


Four generations, at the old house. Mom says I used that coffee table to teethe on. She still had those tables and lamps up until about 8 years ago.


My third birthday. I must have really been wanting that book! That's my partner in crime Janie to the left.


The calm before the storm that was my 10th birthday. For some reason this picture makes me a little sad. I have no idea why!


Playing Bingo. Basically this is every girl in my class, except for Pam who must have been sick, plus a few from the neighborhood. I remember them all very well, and am still in contact with three of them. I'm the skinny one in pedal pushers on the right, the one with the unfortunate glasses. I'm waving.

Obviously there was not racial integration in schools in my town at this time. Schools were either all white or all black back then. I think they started mixing the schools up about 3 years later. I imagine it was the same in most of the south.

Today's not really my actual birthday, but it is the birthday of one of the other girls in this picture. Back then new mothers stayed in the hospital for about a week after giving birth, so she and her Mom were still in the hospital when my Mom went in to deliver yours truly.


My little brother and sister got their own table in the front.

One of the girls at the middle table used to help me tie my shoes in kindergarten. One of them moved away, and we never heard from her again. Another one got falling down drunk at our 20th high school reunion. And one of them was the class valedictorian, and finished college in 3 years. While she was away at school, her family's house burned down and they lost all their pictures. She now lives in a beautiful house with her husband and 3 sons, has a great art collection, and is as skinny as ever.


I look even goofier in this one, but just dig all those flowery pants!

Gimme a break, it was 1969.

Nowdays kids seem to have birthday parties every year - I know my nieces do. But besides one other (that I couldn't find any pictures of), I think this pretty much sums up all my parties.

Maybe I'll have another one when I turn 100. Maybe not though. I'm not really all that big on parties anymore.

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Edited to add:
Although it galls me to have to admit that photos of my childhood are now considered "vintage", have a look at Square America for more old photos.