The birthday ‘twins’, celebrating together again!

The three of us piled into the car on Saturday bound for Johnstown, laden with so much stuff that the top carrier had to be employed. Coda, the seventeen year-old Golden Retriever, herself a longevity-miracle at age seventeen, lay on a specially-created platform next to Bryan. She was going to be dropped off in Reading to be watched by Aunt Barbara and Uncle Dick.

As we began our trip, I noticed Bryan frenetically looking through his backpack. “What’s the matter, buddy?”, I asked. “I need THIS”, he proclaimed, unearthing a jar of Vicks Vaporub from the overstuffed bag. I asked him if he was feeling congested. No, he replied, breathing deeply from the opened jar. Suddenly it dawned on me – he’s masking the awful stench of Coda’s dog breath, probably caused by slowly rotting teeth. We were all smelling it, but Bryan had an excellent solution!

The trip proceeded smoothly until we reached the retirement community where Bryan’s 103-year old grandmother lived. We carried in the two cakes, decorations, flowers and gifts to fix up the private dining room which was reserved for the celebration, set up everything, and brought Grandma up to be surprised with a small gathering of nieces, nephews, staff and friends from her community. As always, Bryan helped with the setup and arranging of chairs and tables.

“Hey, you!”, he exclaimed as he hugged his Grandma warmly , acknowledging their shared birthday bond. How exceptional is the fact that they have been together every single birthday for forty-three years?! Mom was there in the hospital the day Bryan was born. And has been celebrating with him ever since.

We enjoyed the time together that weekend. Bryan understood that the weekend was set aside for Grandma and the mothers in his life – Grandma, Aunt Barbara, sister Amy and me. It’s taken him many years to reach that understanding and acceptance. He used to get a little miffed that all the attention was not on HIM for his special day.

The next day on Mother’s Day, we enjoyed a take-out breakfast from Perkins, where Grandma devoured her brioche French toast with strawberries and whipped cream.

It is always a bittersweet goodbye when we leave Grandma. There is always the lingering, niggling thought in the back of our minds – when will we see her again? How long will she still be around? I think that goes through Bryan’s mind as well.

We always make it a point to set aside some special time for Bryan as well on his birthday So, on Mother’s Day, a candle was placed in a piece of cake just for him and we sang ‘happy birthday’ to Bryan alone. On the actual birthday on Monday, we met his sister, brother-in-law, and two small nephews at a local restaurant deck for dinner where he finally opened HIS gifts.

And the end to his birthday celebration? A dessert of Sam Adams lager and a dish of ice cream. Hey…whatever makes him happy!