January the 10th has been my birthday for 25 years. It is a special day for me. I share my birthday with my Uncle Dave, Rod Stewart and George Foreman. Growing up there have always been some birthday traditions and memories that are important ot me. An angel food cake, an old, metallic, “Happy Birthday Rebecca” sign from Judy Mingus (which has not aged as well as I), being serenaded at breakfast by Dad singing, Sixteen Candles, and being wisked off to Portland, ME for my 24th by Peter. Good times, good times.

“But why?” you may ask, “are you bringing this up now, on the 19th of February?” That is a great question. And I have a great answer.

In addition to those mentioned earlier, I also share a birthday with Charlie Clough. He sits behind my parents in church, tells jokes before the service, taught my pre-school sunday school class AND for the past 13 years or so, has taken me out to dinner on our birthday.

The 58 years that separate us have never been a problem. I talk about school (middle, high, college and grad) and he tells stories from his rebellious teenage years (those poor teachers!) and from his time in the South Pacific fighting in World War Two.

Every year we eat at the “Riverside Resturaunt” in Brookline, New Hampshire. All the waitresses know Charlie and they recognize me…and the place has been the same for years and years. If you go there on your birthday they’ll put a sparkler in your dessert, get you to wear a funny crown and take your picture. I have a collection of Polaroids commemorating each year.

This year we diverged from tradition. Anyone who may have been in the Massachusetts area the first couple weeks of January will remember that it was bitterly, bone chillingly cold. Way to cold to bundle up and go to dinner even further north in NH. So we postponed until this afternoon and went for lunch instead.

We had a little scare having just heard that the Riverside had just been sold. Would they still be open? Yes! Phew! We walked in and were in for a bit of a shock. What had once been a cute country resturaunt chock-a-block full of antiques and knick knacks was now stripped down to the bare bones. We could actually see the walls and ceiling! {All, or most, will be sold at auction on March 6th at the Brookline Auction House aka. the Tin Can}

As fortune would have it, the food was just the same and we were treated to the yearly sparkler and photo. Here’s to 2005!