SURPRISE BIRTHDAY!

Well, it's my birthday weekend. But guess what Mom said as I turned 46. All my life, I'd thought my birthday is September 11. Nope, it's September 10. A Clerical Error, daw, when my birth was being recorded. Or as I wrote in a journal entry to memorialize:

9-1-1: An Autobiography
(September 10, 2006)

Mom: Happy Birthday!

Eileen: Thank you!

Mom: You are 46 years old!

Eileen: Yep.

Mom: You know, today is not really your birthday.

Eileen: Huh…?

Mom: You were actually born on September 10. But it happened just around 10:30 p.m., so it wasn't reported to the registrar's office until the following day. But the registrar's office marked your day of birth as the day it was reported instead of when it occurred.

Eileen: So, … I don't share a birthday with Ferdinand Marcos?! Or an anniversary with the bombing of the World Trade Center…?!

Mom [Nods. Then laughs before saying]: Happy Birthday!

*****

So, wow: that's a true story...(Hey Leny, she SHOUTS! We don't share a birthday after all...!)

Relatedly, I respect art in all its forms. Daniel Patterson is a brilliant artist and I'm honored and grateful he gave me a superb birthday dinner this year. Thank you, Tom, for giving me/us one of the best dining experiences I've ever experienced!

And the present wasn't bad either...!