A Story about a Birthday in the Cold

Readers – bear with me as I try fiction based on real life today! 

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She realized when she woke up that her birthday was once again coming on the coldest day of the year.

As she mulled this over, doing minor arithmetic while drinking a hot cup of coffee, she came to the unreasonable, irrational conclusion that no one should ever have sex in April. If you have sex in April when birds are singing and flowers are blooming and spring is in the air and you get pregnant, you tend to give birth in January. And having a birthday in January is not fun. Not when you live in a cold place and your birthday just always seems to come on the coldest day of the year.

She loved sun and warmth. Palm trees and desert skies, all the plants that grow in the heat – Bougainvillea, Desert Cactus, Hibiscus, Morning Glory — these were the things that warmed and grew her soul. She thrived best in the warm glow of sunlight.

But her birthday was in the cold – when all of life felt bleak and the only thing to do was eat muffins, drink tea and dream of sun-drenched elsewheres. She suddenly remembered her fortieth birthday, when a party was planned and invitations were sent. Only a quarter of the people came. The following day a friend called her. “The party girl had no one at her party” the friend screamed into the phone! “What’s that about?!” “How come no one came to your party?”

And all she could say was “I don’t know. Maybe it’s because it was the coldest day of the year.”

This year, not only was her birthday coming in the cold, but rumors of a snow storm of epic proportions were filling the airwaves. There were reports of crazy lines in grocery stores, a feverish frenzy to stock up in pantries and kitchens that were already stocked well, a heightened alert akin to the coming of an air raid, and conversations that could focus on nothing and no one else.

So there she was. Turning the lower end of the speed limit on a day when a blizzard would paralyze the city and any attempts at celebration would be quickly thwarted.

At this point she realized she sounded more Eeyore than Winnie the Pooh. With this realization she decided she must recapture her inner Pooh Bear and get on with life.

What was it that Pooh said to Piglet so long ago? 

“What day is it?”
It’s today,” squeaked Piglet.
My favorite day,” said Pooh.”

And so it would be. 

winnie-the-pooh-437940_1920Picture Credit: http://pixabay.com/en/winnie-the-pooh-wall-painting-437940/


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20 thoughts on “A Story about a Birthday in the Cold

  1. I’m blushing wIth all the sex talk! I do love you and I wish you a warm sun drenched half birthday with margaritas on crushed ice!

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    1. hahaha! Yeah – I just knew that would scandalize you my friend! And thanks for the wishes for my half birthday which I think I will totally begin doing. Also – did your kids ever get into wanting half birthdays??? For some reason for a couple of years my kids wanted to do half birthdays. I had a fit — really? Half birthdays! Like birthdays in this country aren’t hard enough? sheesh.

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  2. HAHAHAHA So funny! I love Winnie the Pooh and find that my inner self is really a lot more Eeyore-ish–which is why my favorite coffee cup says “smile and get it over with”! So here is to your birthday with a smile–have a wonderful one!

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  3. Wow–I read this out loud to your eldest brother, and he almost could not believe you would write about such intimate matters in such a public place!! LOL–we howled:) The thing is, God actually gave us two great seasons in which to have sex so that babies would not be born in on the coldest, or the hottest days of the year: First, he gave us winter and blizzards, with power outages, as a great time to stay home having sex, and then having babies in the beautiful days of fall. Then, he gave us the “dog days of summer” with hurricanes, and power outages, also as a great time to stay in bed having sex, and then the babies are born in the beautiful days of spring:) How is it his fault if people do not follow the cues?? :) xoxoxo to you, Marilyn.

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  4. Happy Birthday, dear Marilyn! Your brother Stan was also born in January, the others in December and March, not great months either. Poor Tom had it the worst though, 3 days after Christmas. In my memory all he got for his party was Christmas leftovers, poor child. Stay warm and stay home. I hope the governor told all his workers to just stay home today, tomorrow and Wed!

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  5. Thought of you as I watched all the dire warnings of the impending snowstorm on the news last night. I was picturing you trying to navigate your way to work amidst all of it. Stay safe, hurry home. Snowstorms are better watched from “inside” your home with a hot cup of tea and a muffin wouldn’t you say? Enjoyed your story.

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  6. Happy Pooh Day!

    I remember my fourth birthday, when all I wanted was the Winnie the Pooh birthday party in a box from the Sears catalog. I didn’t get it.

    But I made such a fuss that I got it for my fifth birthday!

    Stay warm and may we both soon see warmer weather.

    Hugs.

    Robin

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