Day Three-Seventy-Three - Cute Marie, Real Cute!

I'm gearing up for the big birthday next weekend.  For me birthdays haven't really been a big deal since I was a kid.  In the past years, my parents have had some crawfish boils that have been planned around the same time as my birthday.  But they weren't really birthday parties.  Since I outgrew slumber parties, I have not really wanted a birthday party.  I think of birthday parties as a celebration for a child who can't wait to grow up.  If only we had known back then what we know now, we all probably would have stopped celebrating much sooner.

I know some people who enjoy making a big deal of their birthday every year regardless of their age.  That's fine for them.  But it is so totally not me.  I'm always slightly embarrassed when someone even wishes me a happy birthday.  One of my worst fears in life is being singled out in a restaurant by a giant group of waiters and being sang to.  I don't need to have everybody in a crowded restaurant staring at me.  I have spent my entire life up to this point trying to blend in and go unnoticed.  I sure don't want a bunch of untalented waiters screwing it up for me now!

I do have some great birthday party memories from my childhood which is exactly where great birthday party memories belong.  Once me and Deanna Bailey (whose birthday is 3 days before mine) had a skate party at the Skatarama in Nacogdoches.  Our families rented the skating rink and we had it to ourselves for the evening and it was so much fun!

I spent every Friday night for about 5 years of my life in those days at the Skatarama so it was particularly exciting for me.  I think I got a new skate case that year.  Yes, that's right.  I had my very own white skates with several different sets of pom poms to put in the laces depending on which ones best matched my outfit that night and a terrific carrying case for all of it.  There was a time when I was 12 that I thought perhaps I would grow up to be a roller derby queen.  I had some pretty high aspirations as a 12 year old.

Then a few years later Dana Duskin (whose birthday is 5 days before mine) and I had the greatest birthday party ever.  We had the infamous Donny Osmond themed slumber party.  It was back in the day when the Donny and Marie Show was on TV every Friday night.  Dana and I had both been in love with Donny for years.  But it was ok, 'cause there was plenty of him to go around.  Our birthday cake was purple and shaped like a big sock.  We each got a pair of purple socks with Donny's picture on them.  I'm not sure, but Krista Roberts may have given those to us.  We also got purple tee shirts that said "Cute Marie, Real Cute"  on the fronts of them in silver letters.  I'm sure that there were many other Donny themed gifts but those are the ones that really stick out for me.

I still have this album.  Although I'm pretty sure that I had to pay more than $1.99 for it.  I remember saving my allowance for several weeks to get it.  I have several other Donny and Marie albums, as well, in addition to a few Donny solo albums.  (Eat your heart out Ken Lettre.)  My favorite song of Donny's was always Crazy Horses.....  I guess when he sang it I sort of thought of him as a "bad boy"....  You know, as bad as a nice Mormon boy who performs with his sister can be.

I had this Donny doll still completely outfitted in his little costume on display in my guest bedroom along with my Mrs. Beasley and Raggedy Ann dolls until just a few years ago when it got partially eaten by nieces miniature schnauzer one weekend while they were visiting.  I didn't get the doll until after I had stopped playing with dolls so it was perfectly preserved.  He was even still holding his little  microphone.... you know... until it got eaten.  Then not so much.

Even back then people made jokes about the wholesomeness of Donny and Marie.  I didn't really get it.  I thought they were so cool because they seemed like pretty normal people.  In fact if me and my brothers could have sang and danced and quit arguing and hitting each other long enough, I was pretty sure we would have been just like them.  I think that was the reason I liked them so much.  Well, that and Donny was really cute.  So, I guess for a kid growing up in Nacogdoches in the 70's Donny and Marie seemed just like other people you would know who happened to be able to sing and dance.  Probably for those crazies out in California they were a little too wholesome.

Anyway, those are my best birthday memories.  And since you could never top a Donny Osmond slumber party no matter how hard you tried, I'm just going to continue to not celebrate with parties.  Y'all have a great Saturday afternoon!  And if you happen to see me out in a restaurant next weekend with my family, please don't tell anyone it's my birthday.