What Do These Things Have In Common?

By Kirsten Scott

Okay, here's the quiz: what do SNOW, a THANKSGIVING TURKEY, and a CUPCAKE WITH CANDLE all have in common?

Did you guess yet?

How about now?

No?

Oh man, did you not know MY BIRTHDAY is in NOVEMBER? November 25th, to be exact, so there are years when it falls on Thanksgiving. Even when it's not on Thanksgiving Day, it's nearby. And you know what it's usually doing in Buffalo NY, around November 25th?

Snowing!

Now I'll be flat out honest -- I love my birthday. I love cake. I love presents. I love it when people gather to celebrate ME, and tell nice stories about me, and are forced to do nice things for me like clean up the kitchen and buy me presents. I love it even more when it involves rich food -- especially gravy and stuffing. Yes, I'm shallow. I should be asking people to donate to a charity instead of buy me presents. I do that for Christmas. I love a good share of a goat to celebrate Jesus's birthday. But for MY birthday?

Nu-uh. I want prezzies.

Despite my love of all things birthday, I must admit that lately I had been getting a little anxious around November. It wasn't the birthday itself. I still loved that. It was the number of candles. The uni-candled cupcake does help with that, but I had still begun to find it disconcerting to see these big birthdays loom over me, and think about the sheer number of years that I was managing to rack up in my wake.

At least, I had felt that way, until I read this blog post by my dear friend Bridget. Bridget is an amazing young woman who is certain to be a superstar when her young adult book is released from Hyperion books in 2012. Bridget also happens to be fighting colon cancer, and when Bridget celebrates her birthday, she really celebrates. She's going for a birthday week. I'd like to see her get a birthday month. In any case, it stopped me short to read Bridget say this on her blog:

I am very pro-birthday (and pro-celebration, clearly), but not just birthdays for the sheer joy of having a day and a week to indulge in fun. I am also pro-aging. Really, I want to win at the aging game and get really, really, really old. I have dreams of being one of those plumper old lady types who smell like cookies, wear extravagant scarves, and have whole closets filled with a gorgeous shoe collection.

How in the world can anyone, particularly anyone who knows Bridget (and BTW, you all now officially know her -- Bridget meet Everyone, Everyone, this is Bridget) complain about their birthday, or adding another candle to their cake? How can anyone possibly consider being anything but thrilled to have the chance to smell like cookies and wear extravagant scarves?

I know I can't! So I'm going to start celebrating early this year -- I'm turning 38, and I can't wait.

So tell me about what you love about your birthday. Is it the cake? The day of having your family waiting on you? The presents!!?

And...if you're in the mood...there's an auction on Bridget's web site to help her with some of the costs of her cancer fight. Do you have something to donate?

In honor of my birthday and Bridget, I want to send someone a present -- so a copy of Delcroix Academy: The Candidates, by that fabbo YA author Inara Scott, is up for grabs to one commentor!