Ahhh, family birthdays.
Such a messy affair. We are hardly ever all together for those. I currently live two hours away from home and I don't have a car, so I'm sad to say that I haven't been home for birthdays in a long, long time. In college, mine always fell on finals’ week, so, rather than scarfing down delicious cake and ice-cream, I was pulling an all-nighter studying for a seven a.m. final or writing an eight-page paper on the uncanny in Henry James’s “The Jolly Corner.” I would totally wish that nightmare on my worst enemy. It’s cruel and unusual, but not unforgiveable. So don’t become my worst enemy.
Back to birthdays. On the other hand, Dad, Mom, and Brother all have their birthdays in the summer, which means trips, doing stuff with our friends, and working restaurant late shifts all get in the way. Then Littlest Brother and Sister have their birthdays in the thick of school, always stressful and busy. So birthdays are usually small affairs because of everyone’s schedule, as well as the fact that not one of us is wealthy.
But no matter who is or isn’t there at the birthday breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert-in-the-middle-of-the-night, etc, there is one tradition that is always honored. And that one tradition is the singing of the birthday songs. Yes. S-O-N-G-S. Plural. As in more than one. Because, you see, we are a bi- to trilingual family.
Each of us speaks at least two of the following languages: English, Spanish, and Chinese. And there is a birthday song in every one of those languages. Each is to be sung loudly, sometimes purposefully off-key (we don’t tolerate natural tone deafness in our family), with backing vocals and the culturally accurate rude interjections in the Spanish song.
Singing these songs is a love/hate relationship, because it just means delaying cake and presents for an extra two minutes. This translates into a bunch of moaning and complaining, but by the time we get to the rude parts in the Spanish song, we’re all into it and having a good time. We start with Spanish, which leads into Chinese, and then we have the big harmonizing finish in English.
So guess what?! It’s my dad’s birthday this Saturday, and true to fashion, he’s not home. He’s in China working as an interpreter. But I just decided that he’s gonna get the Triple Whammy Birthday song anyway. I wish I were at home with the rest of my family to do what I’m about to do next, but…true to fashion, I’m not.
So here goes:
Happy birthday, Dad!!
Curious to know why we’re a trilingual family?
Go to Chester the Best-er and read my Life Story.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these songs. Don’t sue me. I just wanted to let my father know I love him. Also, the aforementioned rude parts were not sung, as I cannot sing both the melody and backup. Furthermore, don’t be judging my vocalizations—I’m just a former choir nerd. Additionally, that’s not a real cake. It’s made out of real construction paper though!
Judges Comments:
"Birthday songs, a great tradition. I like the humor you added into the post, and i like your video, it gave a taste of what it would be like (minus rude parts). good job. enjoyed reading."
Ericka, from Good Job Momma
"As a choir geek myself, they say that the hardest song to sing is Happy Birthday. And only the greats can do it sans music. Many happy returns.
I'll admit, you'd have gotten a higher score if you would have included the rude bits. Maybe that's just me :P
Seriously though, great post and an excellent and concise post on the week's assignment."
Allison, from AllisonDDuncan.com
"I'm not sure why, but when I got to the end of the post, I felt like there should have been more. I'm not sure if maybe, by mentioning the 'rude bits' and not posting them, it felt like you were keeping a secret? The video was great, and it was a really cute thing to do for your dad, but I felt like maybe, at this point in the competition, you should have left that for your own blog. With just a few weeks left, I feel like the posts should have more of an impact, instead of just feeling like a regular every day blog post."
Heather, from My Husband Ate All My Ice Cream
Judges Comments:
"Birthday songs, a great tradition. I like the humor you added into the post, and i like your video, it gave a taste of what it would be like (minus rude parts). good job. enjoyed reading."
Ericka, from Good Job Momma
"As a choir geek myself, they say that the hardest song to sing is Happy Birthday. And only the greats can do it sans music. Many happy returns.
I'll admit, you'd have gotten a higher score if you would have included the rude bits. Maybe that's just me :P
Seriously though, great post and an excellent and concise post on the week's assignment."
Allison, from AllisonDDuncan.com
"I'm not sure why, but when I got to the end of the post, I felt like there should have been more. I'm not sure if maybe, by mentioning the 'rude bits' and not posting them, it felt like you were keeping a secret? The video was great, and it was a really cute thing to do for your dad, but I felt like maybe, at this point in the competition, you should have left that for your own blog. With just a few weeks left, I feel like the posts should have more of an impact, instead of just feeling like a regular every day blog post."
Heather, from My Husband Ate All My Ice Cream