Birthday Buddies

I remember when I was a little boy, REALLY young, I remember my Great Auntie Babe coming to my birthday parties. And this continued, on and off, for many years. And as I grew and the years passed, as the visits to Arizona and Colorado became less frequent, I never lost the special connection I felt to my Great Aunt, even when she finally passed away a few years ago at 98. I always hoped she'd make it to her centennial and I could celebrate my quarter-centennial with her, because... well... see... she was exactly 75 years older than me!

She was my birthday buddy.

And then there's my brother Matt. I always liked his birthday, because it was the same number of the month as mine. But he wasn't ever as special as me, because he often had to share his birthday with that pesky national holiday celebrating the U.S. Presidents. And even though I sometimes had to share mine with Father's Day (I think I rather love that now that I'm older), I was special because I had my birthday buddy. But then my cousin came along and was born on Matt's 20th birthday.

And now she's his birthday buddy.

But I'm not jealous. Instead, I think there must be something special about me and my brothers, because today, magic struck again.

My brother Ben got his birthday buddy.

See, before today, we all thought Ben had found his birthday buddy in his wife Kimberly. Her birthday is the day after his, and that sure makes it easy for me to remember! But I guess that wasn't quite perfect enough.

Now Ben always wanted to have kids by the time he was 30. And though he and Kimberly met in their early-t0-mid twenties, they spent several years dating before marriage and a few years married before they tried for kids. And my brother Ben was ALWAYS a procrastinator. So it was no surprise that his first child would be due only 2 DAYS before his 30th birthday. But I guess the baby had other more magical ideas, like showing up ON his 30th birthday, pretty darn close to the same time in the evening when he was born.

75.

20.

30.

I think there's something magical about my family and birthday buddies.

Welcome to the world and our family, baby girl! We love you!