Yes, it's birthday month again, though the number is not one I ever anticipated reaching. I'll be 67 years old on the 27th of September. I've always enjoyed birthdays, and this one should be little different. On this birthday, my wife and I will go to Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis and hear Beethoven's 9th Symphony, "The Chorale." Although I've heard this work on record, tape, and CD, I've never heard it live, and it should be a treat.
Over the years, I've had some quite enjoyable birthdays, the earliest of which I remember is my 7th. There was a big party on our large back yard, complete with neighborhood children, gifts, ice cream, and a huge cake. Somewhere in all our boxes, I have a picture of that memorable celebration.
My 18th birthday was something special in that it was the first birthday I'd ever spent away from home. On 9/27/58, I was at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina, undergoing training to become a member of the Corps. It wasn't special because anybody celebrated. It was just another training day, hot, sweaty, difficult.
I spent my 40th birthday in Los Angeles, visiting a friend from college who worked as an actor until his retirement a few years ago. I also attended an art opening at the Frank Lloyd Wright house on Doheny Drive, which celebrated a friend of his, a local artist whose work I really enjoyed. My friend, his wife, Sandy the artist, and I, all broke bread at a wonderful steak house on Ventura Blvd. that has since been torn down. Sandy and I shared a Chateaubriand for two. And it was during this birthday period that I had my first Haagen-Dazs ice cream, vanilla. I also ate my first sushi and sashimi during this visit.
The last memorable birthday I can recall is my 55th. My wife and I were working at a pharmaceutical research facility in Los Angeles, and she surprised me with a party that day at work. Some of my co-workers bought me a very nice gift, a briefcase, also a surprise. There was and is a specialty cake shop in L. A., and my wife bought me a quite appropriate birthday cake, one topped with a set of rather lovely female breasts. The cake was tasty, too.
It will be one more year to add to my total so far. It will be a night of tremendous music. It will be another birthday with cake and ice cream. And whenever each of yours is, Happy Birthday.
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4 comments:
happy belated birthday mr. b! hope Beethoven treated you well! i have a vague recollection of you taking jennifer & i to bob carr to see the nutcracker when we were little. am i remembering that one correctly?
You are defintely remembering that correctly. It was a fun-filled day, not only with music and ballet, but also ice cream! I'm happy you remember, even if only vaguely.
Hey I remember that! I surely do. I don't remember Bob Carr but I do remember the Russian Dance and ice cream. Isn't that enough?
I always remember ice cream.
wow, there was ice cream there and i forgot it?? how is that possible?? i'm not sure i can still call myself an epstein if i've forgotten an ice cream outing! perhaps i can gain some redemption for my first hershey's kiss memory - at the barnett household for the holidays of course - i believe it was out of jennifer's stocking. :) guess i was stealing jennifer's booty back then too! :-) (inside pirate joke...)
jennifer - do you remember that we had to sit with the seats flipped up to give us some extra height for us to be able to see the stage? ahh, memories of being a little person. :)
another mr. b memory that i already shared with jennifer - i distinctly remember listening to the song "sugar sugar" by the archies on your record player in the living room as a kid. :)
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