(52 Weeks)
The first memory I am conscious of is my 3rd Birthday party, or the night before my 3rd birthday party really. My (legal) birthday (a day later than my actual birthday; for some further explanation read Birthdays) fell on a Tuesday in 1968, so this party was most likely the weekend before. I’m guessing Saturday, since Sunday would have been Mother’s Day… or maybe it was the weekend after my birthday. Who knows and it doesn’t really matter.
The point is, I have this vivid memory of the night before my birthday party. Having arrived from Ireland on May 22 the prior year, this would have been my first birthday celebration with my parents, in the United States, and in the brand-new home my parents had built next store to the giftshop with the upstairs apartment where I lived for my first 10 months or so with them.
Many early childhood memories are supported so much by stories from older relatives who were there that we are often left wondering if it is the firsthand memory we summon or the story of the memory we were told. I know this was my memory because I was alone and it’s not a story anyone ever shared with me. And to this day I see the scene so vividly and remember too what I was thinking – and even how it made me feel.
The family room was right off the kitchen. I must have wandered in there unsupervised while my mom was starting dinner or something. This was to be the party room. It had already been all decorated with balloons and streamers. A big table set, surrounded by seats waiting to be filled by many little guests. The plates and napkins and centerpiece announced a circus theme.
“This is all for me,” I recall thinking. It made me feel special.
Mom and Dad were very skillful in striking a balance between making me feel very special and completely spoiling the crap out of me. They were very conscious of the latter almost to a fault that throughout my childhood, I sometimes felt denied some things simply because of their attempt to avoid only child syndrome, or I was asked to share my things more than the average kid for the same reason which as I got older may have made me “too giving” but another story for another day.
Hosting parties was their thing and on this day I learned that they were going to go all out! And this would be just the first of many opportunities I’d have to be the center of attention while treating my friends to an unforgettable good time. That was a custom that would stick with me, and I’d eventually figure out how to turn into a career.
The guests at that first birthday party were many of the children of family friends, people my parents knew through their business or church, and some of my classmates from pre-school. Linda, Lauren, Michele, and Wendy could be found among my Facebook friends more than 50 years later, and Wendy has the distinct honor having been at both that first birthday party and the last one I had for my 50th.
Linda and Lauren’s mom was an editor with the Paterson Evening News and created a special addition with a headline announcing that I was turning three. Like those personal connections, my love of parties, and the memory of how that birthday made me feel, that newspaper has survived all these years.
“Humphry Backers Hail Gains” and “Smash Saigon Offensive, Kill or Take 5,000 Reds” were the other big headline above the fold. Inside are ads for puncture resistant premium tires at $21.50 and sirloin steak at 89 cents a pound! This was life 56 years ago. Yesterday I turned 59. Fifty-two weeks until 60.
Did you really think this wasn’t going to include a fundraiser? It’s me. Of course it is! Over the course of these 60 weeks, I am hoping to raise $6000 for the children of Mercy Home for Boys & Girls (that’s just $100 a week!). To learn more about Mercy Home and my why, please visit my fundraising page. Thank you.
