The "Perfect" Birthday

Back in high school one of my friends had this giant horoscope book. You were supposed to look up your birthday and there’d be this whole page dedicated to analyzing you—what you’re like, your personality, etc. We’d find our friend’s birthdays, study the spread, and remark, “that’s sooooo true!” One time, while in the midst of marveling at the particular accuracy of one friend’s horoscope we realized we were looking at the wrong month. So the horoscope wasn’t spot-on, wasn’t tailored just for him and nobody else in the universe.

My sister-in-law’s due date was April 8th, 2012. This year that just happened to fall on Easter Sunday. What a day to be born, right? THE EPITOME OF NEW LIFE! As Easter is not on the same date every year being born on such a momentous occasion would have really had some layers, been a great spring board for years of stories about why this particular little buddy will surely be so special.

Easter came and went, but no new life vacated my sister-in-law’s womb.

That’s fine, because my mom always predicted that the baby would come on the 10th anyways. We all quickly parted with the ideas we’d conjured about an Easter baby and were ready to move on.

Early on the morning of the 9th however we got the call that they’d set out for the hospital. Aril 9th 2012 happens to be the day of the opening home game for the Colorado Rockies. Marketing campaigns are dubbing 2012 “The Year of Fan,” and if Brooke, my sister-in-law, is not a devoted Rockies fan than I don’t know who is. “This will be great!” I thought this morning, for years to come we can tell the new little Medved (I do know the name they’re thinking about, but I feel like prematurely publishing it would jinx things—and what if the name just doesn’t fit?) how she (we think it’s a she) came “up to bat” in this big new world.

But maybe she won’t get here before 11:59 tonight. I’ve never had a baby, but from what I’ve heard there can be a lot of “hurry up and wait” business. In which case tomorrow will be a perfectly great day to be born (and actually is my nephew’s birthday, but he “doesn’t want to share”—totally understandable for a 6 year old.) Even if she came on the 11th—which I’m not sure is possible at this point—I’m sure we’d still find an occasion to forever associate with the birth be it current events, weather, or otherwise. No matter what we’ll celebrate the day for years to come and talk about how special it all was.

We all want a great story whether directly attached to the linear timeline of our lives or a synopsis of who we are overall. But being born in the first place is already a pretty great story. Being a couple’s first child and the first granddaughter and niece (should she actually be a she) will generate plenty of buzz within our brood.

So, take your time niece. Or don’t, I really would love it for your mom’s sake if her first delivery was a Home Run on Rockies Opening Day.