I miss summer already. While it’s great to be back at Ouachita, I’m not going to lie and say that I missed the homework that comes with it. What better way is there to live than spending it sleeping in, spending time with friends and not stressing out about papers and projects?
There’s a lot to love about summer, but my favorite part has to be the birthday. Despite the fact that it’s usually over 100 degrees in Arkansas, summer is easily the best time to have a birthday, and mine is right at the end of July. Growing up, pool parties were a personal favorite; however, considering that I’m a quadruplet and I share my birthday with three other people, there’s always a little squabbling before a final decision is made.
The first birthday party that I remember was my fourth, and our parents planned it at this kids gym. In 1999, that was the place to be. A bunch of kids from our church were invited, and we all had the time of our lives jumping into foam block pits and whatever else we could get into. I think we liked it so much that we had our fifth birthday party there as well.
The funniest idea that we had for a birthday party was for our 12th birthday. The year is 2007, and High School Musical 2 is premiering on television for the very first time. What better way to commemorate our 12th birthday than to watch Zac Efron sing his heart out on TV? But it’s not like anyone can judge; this was 2007 after all.
Perhaps my favorite birthday was my 16th birthday, and my two sisters and I (obviously by this point my brother wanted to do his own thing) planned a progressive dinner. It wasn’t anything fancy, but we thought it’d be something different than the usual pool party or sleepover. We started off with drinks at our house and then traveled to our aunt’s house for appetizers. After snacking on chips and salsa, we journeyed over to my paternal grandmother’s house where we dined on my dad’s world famous hamburgers, and then after we strolled over to my maternal grandparents’ house for dessert.
It’s so hard to please three teenage girls, especially when they share a birthday, but the progressive dinner was a hit among everyone. While the food, the balloons and the presents were all great, it was the time that I got to share with friends that I really enjoyed. We ended the party with a sleepover (we were teenage girls, after all), and that was the end of it. What’s funny is that I wasn’t even crazy about the progressive dinner at first, but it’s easily one of my favorite birthdays ever.
Although it’s fun sharing some of my summer memories, it’d be great to hear yours! If you have a great summer memory to share, whether it’s from this summer or a previous one, please send in your story to signal@obu.edu.
By Katherine Carter, opinions editor
