Poor August. It stands alone when it comes to some sort of holiday or celebration. I mean, even June has summer solstice and April has the ever-popular April Fool’s Day. But August? Not so much as a recognized dead guy to celebrate. Not, of course, that there weren’t important people who were born or died in Augusts past. But August, for the most part, isn’t a real holiday month. Which began my thought process of celebrating and what all that includes. For instance ...
When you celebrate the anniversary of your birth, aka your birthday, do you stop at any time and remember any of the past year’s celebrations? Like the time you turned 13, for instance. Thirteen should’ve been a big one for you. You turned into a teenager and your parents probably bought a whole new supply of aspirin and maybe even an extra bottle of — milk. Yes, yes, let’s go with milk!
A celebration is really an anniversary of the time when something happened to you. Like a wedding anniversary. Let’s just take a closer look at this one. Do you get out the wedding album? Probably not. As the woman the “I’ll never fit into that dress again” monster rears his ugly head when you gaze lovingly at the picture of the two of you just after you have stood up and poured out your heart to that person you now get to look at each and every day for the next who knows how long. As the man? The “what was I thinking” guy on your left shoulder stands up and pokes at you and you can still hear your best man and best friend, Dave, who was single, whispering to you, “Run, run!” I hope neither of these are true. If they are, replace them with the warm, fuzzy guy who tells you to relax and remember that special day warmly.
Yes, that special day when, at the reception, Uncle Dave (again, it’s Dave) danced until his pants ripped. The matron of honor and best friend signed the guest book with, “Are ya kidding me?” The room was so warm the icing flowers on the cake slid off and all you were left with was a white cake with trails of those springtime colors of magenta and heritage platinum with leaf green all mixed together sliding down the four leaning tiers so it looked like a crime scene. Ah, the memories.
I guess what I’m getting at is, don’t let another day of celebrating go by without stopping and taking the time to really remember the reason you celebrate the anniversary of whatever it is you’re commemorating. Oh, here’s one ...
At a 25th anniversary celebration for my parents, a family favorite punch — with a “punch” — was served. The most I remember is toward the end of the evening I saw the sheriff under the kitchen table holding the empty punch bowl and he looked like he was giving thanks for the liquid gold that had been in it. See, this is what I’m getting at. Celebrate the day, but remember the event and each year of memories that have been created by your special day or time.
Oh, you can have cake any day, really. Bought or baked cake is cake, right? I disagree. The cake you have on an anniversary of something you celebrate somehow tastes so much better. Wedding cake is so good because everyone is so pumped up about the marriage. But if the marriage didn’t work out? Well, then I expect a divorce cake will taste just as sweet. Maybe bittersweet?
I attended a wedding last year where the bride decided on, like, nine different cakes. It was a great idea, as each one had a flavor someone just loved. I think she could spend at least her next nine anniversaries by having one of each of the cakes she had at her wedding. That would be a cool way to celebrate. Not like my other half and I did. We kept the top of our cake in the freezer for the first year and took it out on our first anniversary. It was a cool tradition, but the cake tasted like the inside of a freezer — full of meat and frost! My mother did save a bunch of roses off the main cake and I still have them in the freezer — uh, 42 years and they’re like little yellow rocks now!
Wonder how long it will take to thaw them out? As long as it takes to remember each of the 41 previous years I’m bettin’.
No matter what you celebrate; eat, drink and be merry in your memories. Oh, and Aug. 5 is listed as National Underwear Day!
Trina lives in Eureka, Nevada. Share with her at itybytrina@yahoo.com. Really!
