There’s No Time Like Your Birth Time
MTM set the alarm to Code Red Wail. 3:30am Eastern Standard Time. January 18. He barreled out of bed in a re-enactment of his rocketing forth from the womb.
Only, I was the one who was crying.
He, on the other hand, rubbed his hands together with glee. Smacked his lips together. Pilfered through the room.
“It’s my birth time.”
“Mumblemumblemumblemumble.”
“Come on, Andra. Wake up. WAKE UP! It’s my birth time.”
“$%^*#$%^@&$#^%!!!!……huh?”
“My cake. Where’s my birth time cake?”
Covers head with pillow. Points.
“There’s nothing there. I looked twice.”
Bursts out of bed. Staggers around room. Bangs shin on bed.
“$%(*^&$^#&@*$&%^#&*#*(%^&^!!!!!!”
Hands MTM tin foil box. Collapses.
“You got me a birth time cannoli? With the filling separated from the shell to keep it crisp? Aren’t you going to have some?”
“Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.”
(Unlike some people, I was born at 1:15 in the afternoon.)
Every year, we perform this ritual for MTM’s birth time, a celebration of the moment he first appeared and started his journey to me.
Happy Birthday, My Dear MTM.
Dear Reader, do you have an unusual birthday tradition?
Not a tradition but I have warned Katherine that if she ever throws a surprise party for me…we are divorced that night.
Not ever having a surprise party is something of a tradition.
Birthdays were never something that I cherished as a child. My parents actually FORGOT my birthday as a way to punish me for being the evil child I supposedly was. Thanks to that BD’s are just another day. Fortunately for me Katy has always tried to make it a special day for me and for that I am eternally thankful. I am so absolutely blessed to have her by my side. As for celebrating birth time I had not heard of that. I have no clue what time of day I was born. I wonder if that is on my German birth certificate somewhere?
Happy Birthday, MTM! Hope you enjoyed stuffing your cannoli.
No. I’m not that keen on them continually (well annually) appearing and making me older.
I don’t have any special traditions, though perhaps I ought to create some…I think I’d like it to be a vacation in an exotic destination… That said, if I adopted yours and MTM’s celebration of birth-time awakening, I’d be up at 4:28 in the morning on my birthday. I hope the two of you have a glorious day of joyful celebration planned to share. Happy Birthday, MTM!
Happy Birthday MTM, enjoy! 3:30 AM, yikes! 5:00 PM for cocktails would have been a better time to hit the world.
Happy Birthday (and exact birth time), MTM. Separating the filling from the celebratory cannoli makes you a stellar wife. I should try more. Tom gets a bag of Reese’s sometimes up to seven hours past his specific minute of birth.
My arrival was at a, slightly, more civilized hour: 6:0l a.m. Tradition pretty much died with my childhood, however–the ritual hoopla: cake, singing, and presents from family. Now, family members still remember with phone calls and cards, and my sisters still give gifts, but parties…nah!
Mostly, I lament that the older I get, the birthdays seem to come ’round much more often, each practically on the heels of the last. However, I’m very, very grateful that they keep coming. 
Happy, happy birthday, MTM, each and EVERY hour of it!
We don’t do anything for my birth time, since my mother can’t remember which of us (out of my brother and myself) was born at 1:30ish in the afternoon and which was born at 3:30ish in the afternoon. For my daughter, Mary Elizabeth, I make it a point to take the entire day off work and we go do something fun. For her first birthday we went to the park and played for a few hours (mostly swings and sandbox). For her second birthday, we played all day long, took a super long nap, and went to the circus that evening. We had Ringling Bros., Barnum & Bailey Circus Celebrity seats, so for part of the show, we were in the center ring watching the performance. We haven’t made a plan yet for this year, but it’s coming up fast. For my husband, usually all he wants done is a homemade birthday cake. It typically gets decorated either in a Clemson theme, or if he picks out one of my shaped pans then it gets decorated to match whatever it is he picked….clown, dinosaur, dog, etc.
Separating the filling from the shell on the cannoli was genius! They get mushy on the bottom so quickly. Happy birthday MTM!
Oh dear. I shall continue to sleep through my 4:30 birth time each year in celebration of the fact that I CAN.
Heehee, Jessie!
I think I was born around 7:00 a.m. on New Years Eve. Tradition seems to be that I have a party for all our close friends that evening! Happy Birthday to me!
Happy birthday to MTM! As for birthday tradition… nope. None at all. Unless you count me whining about it being my birthday as a tradition.
Nobody brings me cake on my birthday, wahhhhh! Next time around, I’m marrying you
I do have a little birth time tradition with my daughter, though… http://www.meganblogs.com/emily-is-turning-8/
Happy Birthday, MTM! I’ve never heard of having a birth time ritual before. That’s briliant. I used to look at my watch and tell my Mum it was happening at that moment howevermanyyearsago, but that was as far as it ever got.
Andra, as you know (since I do this every year) on my children’s birthday I relive (and let them relive) when they were born and what I was doing…however, my birthday? Nah. I was born at 8:05 am which is a good time to be born I say.
Oh, that’s fantastic! Happy birthday, MTM
Happy Birthday, MTM! Would it be inappropriate to have them put candles in your pancakes if you can make it to breakfast on Wednesday?
My Mom always calls me at my birth time: 8:15am. Not so early as to be *&%^*$^&%*&^*(&*(^% inducing
Happy Birthday, MTM! Many more! Having a birth time celebration sounds like fun.
I’m just glad I keep having birthdays. There is one little tradition that does occur every year on my birthday. My cousin Ted calls me, wishes me a happy birthday, then harasses me by reminding me that I am older than he is. You see, my birthday is on the 5th and his is on the 31st of the same month. I am EXACTLY 26 days older than him. We spent our first four years in the same house, then the next 14 living next door to each other. It is a good tradition. I get him back on his birthday and we repeat the “age difference” discussion again.
What a funny guy! I hope MTM had a very happy “coming out” party! I wouldn’t say that we have many traditions that are held dear for each and every year, and I’m afraid I would be very impatient with involving my sleep. The only thing that is a little particular for us is that, kind of a sad story, my husband lost his dad when he was ten. The following birthdays were a little meager, but the one “treat” for him was a store-bought birthday cake. White cake with vanilla filling–store-bought and nothing special. I can’t make a cake, or buy one from a special place, or do anything really celebratory. I have to go to Ralph’s grocery store and buy THE cake!
Memories are tricky business!
But, it’s great that you do that every year for THE cake, Debra. Somehow, that makes the whole thing special for him. I love this story. Thank you for sharing it.
That’s hilarious. I’m not sure even my mother remembers what time I was born, though! I think it was in the afternoon.
You have seriously got to be kidding?