Most memorable present

     Like most of you I was expecting Scalzi’s weekend assignment to be about Mothers Day. That would have made this assignment sooo much easier for me. After getting home from work at 10:30 on Thursday night, I thought I would check out the assignment and maybe get it in early this time. When I saw what the assignment was I drew a complete blank. I am 41 years old, I have never, not had a birthday party in my life and I could not remember a single birthday present I had ever gotten.

     If you knew how completely compulsive we are in my family about frantically shopping for just the right gift and making sure it is wrapped and presented in just the right way you would understand why a total blank might be cause for concern. (note to self, finding the perfect gift may not be as important as you have always thought).

     My birthday is on July 6th so it has always been celebrated jointly with Independence Day. Often we celebrated with a Neighborhood Block Party, a Family Vacation or with a Big Old 4th of July Parade. YAY me! By Friday morning I started to remember.

    My most memorable Birthday present. One year in the middle of my divorce when I was feeling at the lowest in my life. My niece Brittney and my Dad came into my work with the biggest, most elaborate 5 foot birthday arrangement from Party Perfect that I had ever seen. I was part of the company’s management team at that time. For 6 years I was the recruiter and trainer for cold call. We had close to 120 employees working for us at that time and to see them ohhh and ahhh over these amazing decorations was a great pick me up at a time when I needed it most. Amazing it’s not the big dollar gifts that you remember first.

     With the new do not call policy that has gone into effect this year, we have no more cold call (no applause please) I miss all 120 of them. I am in a different department now,  I am no longer a part of management since our company downsized from about 150 total employees to about a total of 25 employees in our location. No real complaints because with our company like in baseball, the managers do not make nearly as much $ as the players. There are 3 things that I do miss most about cold call and one of them leads me to the extra credit part of this assignment.

 

The most memorable Birthday Present I have ever given. When we were a team of 12 in management, it seemed that every week or 2 we were celebrating a birthday. These private parties in the conference room, complete with cake and a luncheon were always a welcome distraction in our work day. This was a time for jokes and laughter and a time to just be together. If it sounds a little sappy for work, you are right but that’s just the way it was. Being the close knit, fun loving group that we are we eventually came up with our own version of the Happy Birthday song.

     Each of us would sing off key, starting at various intervals, singing a little bit different song than the others. Imagine this times 12 voices and what you would get was a sound to behold. This very unique version of Happy Birthday became our signature song and we would sing it to each other in private, we would sing it to each other in public restarunts, and we would even sing it to strangers if the occasion would arise.

     That song and those luncheons are one of the 3 things I miss most about cold call. I heard them singing that song with out me on Wednesday with only 5 voices instead of 12 and I felt very sad L for the rest of the day. That song is one of the most memorable Birthday gifts I have ever given or gotten. Is gotten a word?

                                                         *** Coy ***