My 9th/10th Birthday

As a child, there are a few birthdays that we count as "important."  Let's be honest a lot of them blend together. When you turn 13, the first of the teens, thats a big deal; then there's, 16 - the year of independence, as I like to call it; 18- the year of the marlboro.  But before those birthdays, there is 10 - Double Digits, I feel like a grown up now, T-E-N.  As least, that's how I saw my 10th birthday.

Let me back up, my birthday is around Labor day, along with every other child that was conceived around the Christmas/New Years time.  In New Jersey, school started after Labor Day, so my birthday was usually one of the last weekends of summer.  Therefore, we usually celebrated at the Shore (Yes, my grandparents had a house on the Jersey shore, more on that in another post.) with a big Labor Day celebration on the beach.  Apparently for a few years, they just let me think the entire thing was an actual party for me.

Back to my 10th Birthday.  So that year, my parents had a lot on their mind.  They had decided to move us to Nashville, TN, but decided to wait to tell us after the summer was over.  We didn't spend my birthday at the beach that year.  Instead we had a pool party at our house complete with ice cream cake because back then, that was all you needed to make a kick ass party.  No custom invitations, or themes, or party planner; just 25 kids, a pool and some Carvel Ice Cream cake.  As a self-centered now-10 year old, I HAD to open my presents as soon as I woke up in the morning.  So there I was, in my favorite chair, because, hey it's my birthday, opening my first present.  Oh my, a book on horses!! I LOVE HORSES!! How awesome!! (Yes, because back then, real live books with pictures of horses were awesome. No wii horseback riding game -Does that exist? It should-, no real live pony or horseback riding lessons, just a cool book on horses.  I opened the book, to read the note from my parents and there it was: "Happy 9th Birthday! Love Mom and Dad"

My first book about horses

I read it to myself, then I read it out loud, then I read it out loud again.  Then I looked at them and said, "But I'm 10 today." How did this happen?  How could they overlook DOUBLE DIGITS??  My mom's face dropped and all she could say was, "Oh sh*t, the cake."  A few hours later, as my classmates sang the happy birthday song, my mom held the cake, still wonky from where she scratched off the 9, that just said, "Happy ___ Birthday!

I still have the book, it's in my room at my parents house and on the inside there is the note, with the 9 with a big / through it and a 10 written on top and a little note "what a boob your mom is ;)"

Not sure if this is clear or not, but here it is!

I'm sorry to my wonderful parents, that this little story makes them look bad. But I can't make this up.