While my 60th will not go down as my most exciting birthday celebration, it will be memorable. Instead of celebrating in a traditional, non-social distancing manner with family and friends, it will be a quiet day. As I am writing this, Mother Nature has decided to participate; it is snowing! No, No, No, snow is not invited to this party!
I do have a few wishes though, not quite as many as the candles that would have been on my cake. Admittedly (sadly, but understandably) they are all COVID-19 related.
I wish:
for the safe arrival of my 5th grandchild next week (I had a dream last night that he was born on my birthday lol), that his name will have nothing to do with COVID, and that I will be able to hold him soon
that my family and friends continue to be symptom-free
that I can snuggle, hug and visit with my grandchildren soon
for a vaccine to eradicate COVID-19, accessible to everyone around the world.
that the self appointed virus police would mind their own business if the actions of others are not hurting anyone
that my gardening business, deemed unessential, will get back on track soon
that the world will learn something from these times. Friends, family and good health are far more important than material things. Medical staff, first responders and other services designated as essential are the unsung (and underpaid) heroes. Sports figures and entertainers, on the other hand, the ones who earn megabucks in comparison to essential workers, are not as essential as we (or they) think they are.
In lieu of (non-essential) birthday gifts, I have created a fundraiser to collect donations towards one of thebusinesses I do freelance writing for. I realize it is a difficult time financially for many people. If you can manage a donation, awesome, and thanks. If you cannot, grant my last wish within the list above.
My eldest son just turned 30, although sometimes it seems like he was just born yesterday. His safe arrival was the best Christmas present ever, especially after the struggle we had the few years prior to his birth. A few months ago I started thinking of something I could do to commemorate this special birthday. I much prefer unique DIY projects rather than store-bought gifts. Over the years I have collected childhood memories in the form of ribbons, pictures, schoolwork, even teeth and hair from all three sons. I planned to use this huge bucket of memorabilia to make a scrapbook for each son, eventually. As I was wracking my brain for something to do or make, I remembered the bucket, stored with all of our other “stuff” in the basement, and the birthday scrapbook project took off.
I started with a catchy cover, but I guess you had to be there to understand just how significant it is. When our boys were young, we always sang “happy birthday, birthday boy” to them on their special days. I think they found it more annoying than funny, but I think it makes a perfect title for the scrapbook…
First I had to wade through all the items in the stored bucket. I swear I have saved every report card, birthday card, award, and more. Years ago, when scrapbooking was the rage, I was ambitious enough to divide the memorabilia into three separate buckets, one for each son, but that was as far as I got. I even purchased one large 18×18 inch scrapbook around the same time with good intentions. It was still in its packaging, just waiting for me to put it to use. A friend supplied lots of stamps, stickers, fancy scissors and other scrapbooking paraphernalia she had collected over the years.
My first page was dedicated to my son’s first few days of life. I had a copy of his family tree (from his baby book) hospital bracelets, pictures of him with his grandparents, newspaper birth announcements and even a newspaper clipping of what was going on in the world in 1989…
Pictures and mementos from his early years were next, including a few baby teeth and a sample of his first haircut…
…followed by pictures of him with most of his family members. Mom & Dad, brothers, grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles.
Family Ties
Next came Christmas memories, mostly pictures, with two personalized letters from Santa, courtesy of a friend’s father who spent hours writing back to children every year. I had also saved a few decorations used at a New Year’s Eve street party celebrating the turn of the century…
Merry Christmases
Another page was dedicated to birthdays. Lots of party pictures, with a special “pocket” created to hold birthday cards, especially the handmade ones from friends and his younger brothers…
Birthdays
Hanging With My Friends was the next page, displaying pictures of accumulated friends from pre-kindergarten to university. The picture in the top left corner appears fuzzy due to the steam off the hot tub my sons and the neighbourhood kids used to love to hang out in…
Hanging with Friends
My son played many sports growing up and is a huge sports fan as well. The next page contains many ticket stubs, Brier autographs, pictures of sporting events and stadiums visited, as well as two curling idols, Brad Gushue and Wayne Middaugh…
Avid Sports Fan
The next two pages are full of vacation memories: Texas, San Francisco, Florida, New Orleans, Dominican Republic, Cuba, NYC, and our family cottage here in Ontario, with the second page reserved for our trip to Hawaii. Mementos include ticket stubs from various attractions, a boarding pass to Hawaii, and lots of pictures.
Family Vacations
family trip to Kona, Hawaii
My son attended both Beavers and Cubs within Kanata Scouts, so I had lots of memorabilia in those categories…
Beavers and Cubs
Soccer (outdoor and indoor) is a sport he played and still plays, 25 years and counting…
The other sport he started young and still plays is curling. In fact, he met his wife at the curling rink way back in the Little Rocks program. He has so many accolades in the curling world that I had to dedicate two pages to the sport…
early years of curling
later years of curling
Other sports played included volleyball, swimming, T-ball, and cross-country running…
other sports
When he wasn’t playing or watching a sport, he was at piano lessons or practicing at home. At the time, he was the youngest to take lessons at Music For Young Children, starting at the age of 2.5 years old! His first recital was just before he turned 3 where he nailed Row, Row, Row Your Boat. We discovered his love for the piano when he would often go across our street to play the neighbour’s piano. She just happened to make puppets for MYC, so knew the founder, convincing her to let my son try the lessons at such a young age…
piano lessons
I had lots of memorabilia saved from the three schools my son attended from kindergarten through high school. There are four pages for Castlefrank Elementary School with two of them exhibiting his early artwork and writing journals. The pink piece in the top right corner of the first picture is a cupid, on a valentine’s card he gave to us. One page is dedicated to Katimavik Elementary School where he attended grades 7 and 8. A fourth page is for Earl of March Secondary School, grades 9 through 12. The awards in the packets are for his honor roll and math contest achievements…
elementary school artwork and journals
artwork
Castlefrank Elementary School with pouch for class pictures
Castlefrank report cards and achievements
Katimavik Elementary School
Earl of March High School
After high school my son attended Queen’s University in Kingston Ontario, graduating in 2011 with a degree in Civil Engineering. I didn’t have as much paraphernalia from those four years, most likely because he did not live at home. The next page combines items from his jobs over the years as well as the Queen’s stuff I did mange to accumulate, including a false ID.
part time jobs and Queen’s
The last page is entitled “the Next Chapter” with mementos from his new house, engagement, wedding, the birth of his daughter and his new, expanding family…
the Next Chapter
This scrapbook was lots of work, but definitely a labour of love and a sentimental walk down memory lane for me. I knew I saved all that stuff for a reason! I hope I have inspired some of you to put your collection of memorabilia to good use too.
Last weekend my husband celebrated his 60th birthday with 5 of his BFFs, 4 of whom were also born within the last half of 1958. The sixth is one year younger. Although these guys get together for weekends a few times a year, their better halves were included in this celebration. Three couples live in Ottawa (including us), two live in Toronto and the fifth birthday boy resides in Belleville.
These guys have known each other since primary school, growing up in Kingston, Ontario. Most of them attended post secondary school in Kingston as well. Only two of these six men have biological brothers so they are very much like brothers to each other. That makes them real, actual BFFs although they affectionately call each other “Bud.” One could say BFFs are the new Buds, or more aptly Buds are the old BFFs.
their hats say “bud 60”
These BFFs have been together through good times and bad, including six weddings, the birth of fourteen babies, one divorce, the deaths of many of their parents, and very tragically, one death of a beloved spouse. Our fourteen collective children range in age from 21 to 35 but we are the only couple with grandchildren to boast about. So far. I’m sure they all left here looking forward to welcoming their own grandchildren after meeting one of ours and seeing lots of pictures of the other two.
Although we celebrated my husband’s 60th birthday with our immediate family in August, he did not want a big splash. This weekend party (it did last pretty much all weekend) here in Ottawa was the perfect way to celebrate their friendship and their milestone birthdays. Together, like brothers, buds or BFFs. Now that most of them are retired, we hope to get together more often.
I wasn’t around yet in 1958, but can vouch for the fact that it produced some pretty awesome men. One of them I am married to, the other four are his buds.
