41 Candles

It's become de rigeur in my family to forget to wish me "Happy Birthday" on the morning of . . . as my son's birthday is the day before, so we usually combine celebrations . . . one year my wife called me at school, nearly crying because she forgot . . . one year we both forgot . . . and the year Alex was born there was obviously no remembering . . . but this year I tried to gently remind my wife . . . I asked her if she read my blog and she said yes, but obviously this wasn't enough to make her remember and then I asked her if I need to pick up fish for this, but that didn't do it either, but, finally, she remembered . . . it was so early in the morning that I don't remember exactly how, and so I didn't have to receive a tearful call at school, and then, oddly, when I got to school, ALL my students remembered my birthday, which I may have mentioned once when I was teaching them the "Birthday Problem," . . . someone made me cupcakes and everyone wished me "Happy Birthday," including a random student in the class next door . . . I poked my head through the hole in the folding wall to ask Kevin something and a girl said, "Happy Birthday," and I said, "Do I know you?" and when she was pressed on how she knew it was my birthday, she said, "I just heard"and I think the kids were so zealous in their wishes because they know I hate holidays, parties, and any break in the educational routine, but they also knew that I would be unable to refuse home-made cupcakes on my birthday and I would have to distribute them to the class, or I would look like a total grouch.

2 comments:

  1. I followed your link to the explanation of "The Birthday Problem." I was expecting something funny or weird, like the problem with putting candles on a cake when the person doesn't like to reveal how old they are, or the problem of giving birthday spankings when you know the person has a spank fetish, or the problem of finding a gluten-free cake, or the problem of people wearing their birthday suits in public. I eagerly clicked to it...

    ...That was the biggest letdown in a long time. It was a math problem. You are getting was less weird in your old age and far, far nerdier.

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  2. that's not what my wife said when she heard my song-- so reserve your judgment until i post it.

    and "the birthday problem" is pretty weird. ask any nerd-- they'll agree.

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