The Girl Who Refused to Have a Birthday
Saturday, November 18, 2006
20 – that was over the hill in Carrie-Bri’s book.
And while she absolutely refused any hint of birthday celebration that cold November morning, Collette knew that there were a very few things the family would attempt to do without too much complaint from her end, including homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast before she left for her exams at 7:45 out in Florissant, and perhaps a great black “Over the Hill” poster in white lettering upon her return. Linnea had already wrapped her little gifts for Carrie, although Carrie would also likely insist on refusing to open those until Christmas too.
Carrie had taken Dad’s old mantra “It’s just like any other day,” (regarding birthdays), to the extreme.
Later, Mom told Collette that the only thing Dad had said to Carrie that morning regarding her birthday was, “Well, it started twenty years ago.”
Meanwhile, Rose reported that the junior high lock-in had been “eh, wild” and that she had managed to grab one hour of sleep in all the hub-bub. Jimmy, Megan, and Ben-Hur had also stayed the night with the bubbling crowd of preteens.
Saturday morning for OLeif and Collette was for running errands, which brought them to the bank, to Kirkwood for Ivy’s birthday gift, to get OLeif another pair of jeans, and to the grocery store to pick up supplies to make Martha’s potato casserole for the church Thanksgiving dinner and for the Snicketts/Combs Thanksgiving gathering the following Saturday.
It was later that afternoon, driving towards Kirkwood, that Dad called OLeif’s cell phone to let Collette know (at her request) that Carrie had passed her last two exams. She had officially completed her Bachelors in Emergency and Disaster Management with a concentration in Public Management and Disaster and a minor in Security Management. At last – eighteen months after high school graduation.
Of course, her response to Dad, upon her return, was, “I’m twenty years old and I have nothing to show for it.”
Collette just laughed.
Meanwhile, under gray skies and Christmas wreaths decking the lampposts of the Kirkwood streets, Collette and OLeif found a leather cat picture frame and a 2007 calendar with each month picturing snoozing kitties, for Ivy. And OLeif treated themselves to Fuddrucker’s for lunch, with a drop by the party supply store on the return home for a great colorful “Over the Hill” banner, black door banner with the grim reaper holding a birthday cake and “Happy Birthday” spelled across the top, and two bags of black “Over the Hill” balloons.
On the return, the sky began to sleet a little.