All Doubled Up and a Few Close Calls

In my family we like to make things easy or complicated, depending on how you choose to look at it. You see somehow some of us have a tendency to arrive into this world on someone else’s birthday.

For instance, I was born on my brother Selwyn’s fourth birthday. Six years prior to this my sister Pam was born on my Dad’s (Brian) twenty first birthday.

My brother Warren shares the same birthday with his wife Kim. His daughter Mandy, and her daughter Jessica also share the same birthday.

Leland has a twin sister LuAnn born on the same day, of which you would expect. However, some twins are born on separate days, but not these two. Leland’s Mom (Ruth) didn’t even know she was having twins, until the Doctor (Cullimore) announced after LuAnn was born that Leland was coming. He always says he was the afterbirth.

Our daughter Robyn was born two days shy of Leland’s birthday. Robyn’s youngest son Benjamin was due on my birthday almost two years ago, but since Robyn has C Sections, and since my birthday fell on a Sunday that year they had to move it to Monday. So close.

When we started having sons-in-laws I had hoped we could find a spot on the calendar for them that was relatively untouched. This was not to be. Jon’s birthday turned out to be the day before Robyn’s, and Matt happens to have the same birthday as our nephew Matthew, which is also one day shy of my Mother’s (Margaret) birthday.

In the summers when our grandchildren are often here, we have four close birthdays, one in May (Benjamin,) two in June (Maddie and Jacob,) and one in July (Nicholas,) and now that Jana is expecting in June we’ll add another. The big dilemma at that time is whether to have one big party or individual ones. We’ve done it both ways, and either way it’s a lot of fun and very chaotic. One thing’s for sure Grandma and Grandpa always take each child out for a special lunch on their own birthday, including the one in November (Gideon.)

So you see it sounds a little complicated, but somehow it all works out, and we manage to have double the fun.


Hilda S. Gamette
February 22, 2012


Adendum: (October 4, 2012)

Baby Elizabeth Dawn was due June 21st, but instead waited until July 3rd, just missing Nicholas’ July 2nd birthday, and arriving at 12:59pm, just one minute away from the Fourth of July!