Memories of Birthdays Past

The truth is that I have very few birthday memories - with the exception of lighting 29 candles (on my 29th birthday) and wondering if they'd all be lit before the first had burned down to the stump!

I didn't look too happy in this picture taken on my 19th birthday at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

I was living in residence - and struggling with the question: What do I want to do with my life??! It was a very confusing year for me.

But there are happy birthday photos in our family albums, too: All the neighborhood kids gathering for a birthday party in our kitchen in Red Deer, Alberta.














My friends and I at my third birthday party in Hay Lakes, the Alberta village where I lived as a young child. We are standing on a sidewalk made of wooden slats - the door at the left led into the garage. The one at the right led upstairs to the apartment where we lived.















I turned seven when we were living in this tiny two-room teacherage in Kingman. I have no idea what games we played - the place was so small!














I always hated having a winter birthday - it was too cold to play outdoors! But as I look at the small amount of snow in those old birthday photos in Alberta...














... and compare the snow around me in Ottawa today...














 Those Alberta winters don't look that bad at all!