Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Birthdays by Merrillee Whren

Today we are celebrating two birthdays in our family. Sharing birthdays runs in our family. I was born on my mother's birthday. Our two daughters were born on June 18th, but they are not twins. Some folks call them Irish twins because they were born on the same day a year apart. They were also born on their great, great grandfather's birthday.

Have you ever wondered about the traditions surrounding a birthday celebration? Birthday cakes are believed to have originated in Germany during the fifteenth century, but they didn't become popular in western culture until the eighteenth century because only the wealthy could afford them in earlier times. The song "Happy Birthday to You" became popular in the early twentieth century. There are a number of theories about the use of candles on birthday cakes. You can read about it here.

Does anyone in your family share a birthday? What is your favorite way to celebrate your birthday?



After serving six years in prison for the false charge of manslaughter in the death of his wife, Kurt Jansen must overcome a world of bitterness if he wants to start a new life. But his first priority is securing a restoration job to pay a private investigator to find the real killer and a lawyer to get his kids back.
Hiring a convicted wife-killer isn't what kind-hearted Molly Finnerty bargains for as part of the prison ministry she supports. However, she begins to believe Kurt's claim of innocence and gradually finds a great deal to like about him—perhaps more to like than she should. 

Merrillee Whren is an award-winning author who writes inspirational romance. She is the winner of the 2003 Golden Heart Award for best inspirational romance manuscript presented by Romance Writers of America. She has also been the recipient of the RT Reviewers’ Choice Award and the Maggie Award for Excellence. She is married to her own personal hero, her husband of thirty plus years, and has two grown daughters. Please visit her Web site at http://www.merrilleewhren.com or connect with her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/MerrilleeWhren.Author
 

16 comments:

  1. Wow, Merrillee! That's crazy to have all those same birthdays!

    We don't have anything like that. We're all spread out--January, Feb., April, Sept. and December.

    I love to go out to eat for my birthday! I get to pick the place without anyone complaining. LOL

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  2. No shared birthdays in my family. We are all in the spring, from March to mid-June, which makes it easy to remember everyone's birthday. I do remember that my grandparent's birthdays and wedding anniversary all took place within a few days. Maybe that helped grandpa remember the anniversary date.

    Like Missy, I like to go out to eat for my birthday. No cooking and no dishes to wash!

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  3. How special to have so many shared birthdays in your family, Merrillee. I've heard one can poll a very small group of people (something like 19 or so) and find two people who share a birthday. I tried it at my workplace years ago, and that proved to be the case. While that was fun, having so many shared birthdays in one family is more special yet.

    My husband was born on January 11 and our daughter on January 1. That's as close as we got to a same day. In my family of origin, there are some five or six birthdays in May. Makes for a busy month of celebrations.

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  4. No shared birthdays in my family either. The only common factor is we've three months that are birthday heavy and six months with no birthdays at all.

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  6. My husband and his nephew share a July 10 birthday. But more than shared birthdays, our family shares birthdays on the 27th: February, March, and September.

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  7. Missy and Christine, going out to eat is my favorite thing to do for my birthday, too. I've had one very, very special treat for my birthday. Six years ago, my hubby took me to Wimbledon. No small feat. He worked a whole year to find tickets.

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  8. Keli, I've heard that too about finding people in a group with the same birthday. Besides, my daughters and their great, great grandfather having a birthday on June 18, one of their very good friends has a birthday that day. And someone famous, Paul McCartney, has a birthday on June 18.

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  9. Pamela, birthdays do seem to cluster.

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  10. Jean, cool that your husband and nephew share a birthday. Interesting that you so many birthdays on the 27th of the month.

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  11. My best birthday treat was when hubby took me skiing in Banff. Needless to say that that was a once in a lifetime celebration! We have a habit of clustering birthdays with anniversaries. My son was born on my inlaws' anniversary, which also happened to be his cousin's one year birthday, and our grandson was born on our wedding anniversary. :D

    I had a great friend in high school who shared a birthday with me. We always treated ourselves to donuts at the local bakery to celebrate.

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  12. No shared birthdays in our family, but we were hoping my son would be born on my father's birthday. He came two days later.

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  13. DH and I have the same birthday....a year's difference.
    We love to celebrate by eating out!

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  14. Sandra, how cool that you shared a birthday with a friend. That must have been a fun time.

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  15. Carolyn, when our oldest was born, we were hoping she would be born on my birthday. That would've been 3 generations born on the same day, but she couldn't wait to get here. Then her sister came along to share her birthday.

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  16. Jackie, how fun to share a birthday with your hubby.

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