IN MY LIFE-BIRTHDAY!

 Tomorrow, November 15, is my birthday.

I know how I'm going to spend tomorrow- go to Collegeville to check out new sinks and toilets ( sounds like fun eh?). Then go out to dinner at my favorite Italian place, the Trattorina in Valley Forge ( probasbly getting Fettachini Alfredo), then hitting the Valley Forge Casino to try my luck (I live 10 minutes from the VF Casino yet have never been there.

There are  birthdays in my past I'll never forget, such as...

* 2-16- a surprise party at the Traterrina Restaurant. Never had a surprise party before. Family, good friends. Fun time for all.

Well, it was supposed to be a surprise. I knew i was going out to dinner with my sweet girlfriend, Holly, to celebrate- just the two of us.I saw my nephew the day before, not thinking i would catch him again until the following Friday. He said"No, I'll see you tomorrow," stopping short on the word "tomorrow". Hmmmmm! Something was up.

I kind  of knew it was going to be more than me a Holly at the birthday dinner, but I couldn't rat on my nephew. It wasn't his fault. So I acted surprised, and really was surprised at how many family and friends were there.Plus, surprise parties are for the guests, not just the surprisee. So much planning and work go into it, why spoil it?Plus it was still fun.

* Nov. 16 2003- another birthday I'll never forget. My first Eagles game.

I've always been an Eagles fan all my life, but for one reason or another, I never attended a game. I was lucky enough to get tickets on Sunday November 16- against the hated, rival Giant, no less. The Birds were getting good, as they would make the Super Bowl the following year.

Being at an Eagles game was so much different than sitting at home and watching. There's the traffic, and the tailgating.There's doing the E-A-G-L-E-S chant with 60,000 other fans. There was the excitement of the pre-game festivities and the game itself. Plus for a mid-November day, it was incredibly mild, close to 70 degrees.

The Eagles clobbered New York that day, 28-10, and I was hooked. Ever since then I've gone to at least one Eagle game every season, when I can get tickets.

* I'll never forget a birthday when I was young, but I can't remember the exact year.Maybe 1965 or 66. Mom had made my favorite dinner, as was her custom on our birthday, whatever we wanted for dinner that evening, she made it. My choice was always chicken and spaghetti.

I remember the phone ringing during dinner, my dad answering and saying it was for me. Who could it be? A relative with birthday wishes?

I have always been a big Phillies fan. For some strange reason, my favorite player when I was a kid was shortstop Bobby Wine. He wore No. 7, one of the best fielding shortstops in the National League, but a light-weight hitter. Still, I liked his style.

My Dad worked at the old B.F. Goodrich tire plant as a machinist for years. He knew someone, who knew someone, who knew Bobby Wine, who lived in nearby Audubon, Pa. during the off-season.

Dad had arranged for Bobby Wine to call me on my birthday. I don't remember much of the conversation, only that I couldn't believe I was talking to my favorite Phillie, who had taken the time to wish me a Happy Birthday and said he hoped to see me at a game next summer at old Connie Mack Stadium.

Thanks to Dad, it was a special birthday I never forgot.

* A few years ago I stupidly scheduled an appointment to see my great Urologist, Dr. Rose, on my birthday. Who goes to a doctor on their birthday unless they have to? But I think the news was good so it wasn't as bad as a birthday a sit could've been. Still, be it a movie, a trip to the \mall or just chilling,  whatever you do on your birthday, don't schedule an appointment to see your friendly neighborhood Urologist.

* My birthday always fell a week or so before Thanksgiving. In fact, this year, it;s exactly a week before Turkey Day. You can't pick when you are born, and maybe a summer birthday would be more fun, with more to do, whereas a birthday on or around Christmas may suck, as birthdays are supposed to stand out and be special.

To me, it didn't matter. Now I look forward to birthdays, even though I'm getting old ( who isn't?) I look a tit this way- birthdays are days to celebrate life, all the achievements, the ups and downs, and the fact you not only survived life but have so much of living ahead.

I miss my Mom,who always remembered my birthday and made it special, and other family members who are gone. But now I think of all of the wonderful new people in my life, who weren't around in the past to help me celebrate.

When I think of so many kids I knew in hospitals when I was growing up who didn't make it, I feel lucky and appreciate every November 16th.