Ah, birthday parties. I absolutely hate birthday parties now, but I used to adore them when I was a kid. One that really has to stick out in my memory, would have had to have been when I turned seven or maybe it was eight years old.

I remember it like it was yesterday. I had waited all week, bouncing around the house, getting small pre-birthday gifts! It was all so exciting! We had planned the celebration to take place at my grandmother's house. She had a pool, and it was certainly hot after running around playing tag in the summer. That's what made the arrangement so perfect.

Now, my family is not one to invite over friends from school, because we are just shy around anyone who does not belong in the family. It would spoil the party, and besides it was summer! Who would even want to take the time to track them all down? Anyhow, I still did have quite the guest list. My two cousins, who are similar age, my aunts and uncles, brother and sisters, and of course my grandma! We didn't make her leave her own house, that would be cruel!

The day started out with belting out Garth Brooks lyrics (swear words and all, and yes we were country kids) and plunging into the cool pool waters. It was such a beautiful day, with the sun high in the sky and the birds chirping all around. Of course, we scared most of them off with our squealing laughter and I do believe we even had a few stupid fights, that ended up with all of us bawling.

Thankfully we got that over in the beginning of the day. For our party games we lined up on the back lawn, barefoot and sopping wet with pool water, for a game of red light / green light. My mom was the director for that one. She would call it out, and send us back if she caught us going out of turn. Then we played tag. I believe it was TV tag. Thinking back at it now, it was probably a rather lame game as we only knew about two TV shows, which we most likely repeated back and forth to refrain from getting caught.

We munched on chips and dip, gulped down pepsi, and chowed down our hot dogs and hamburgers. They were so good, right off the grill, but when my aunt brought out the rainbow chip cake I nearly forgot about them completely. I cut into the cake first, it being my birthday, and then my mom took the knife out (family tradition) as it was her birthday in about a week. Rainbow chip cake has been my favorite ever since, especially with a side of vanilla ice cream. Mm mm.

I began opening presents after meal time and was overwhelmed with how many gifts filled the shabby old picnic table. There was Barbies, hair ties, new clothing. Everything I could have asked for as a kid!

We may have suffered a few bee stings that day, but it was the best birthday yet!

Learn more about this author, Donna Fallesen.
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