I have always loved my birthday, June 21, the summer solstice, the longest period of daylight of the year. I have since met people who dislike it, because it marks the beginning of the waning of the light. Sheesh. It’s not as if the amount of light changes dramatically the next day. I once asked my mother how she managed to give her children such cool birthdays. My brother’s birthday is the same as our father’s. She said, “You know how I hate to wait around for things?” No, I never knew that about her. “Well, I asked to be induced.” Huh. I don’t know about her being impatient, but this does give me a quick glimpse of her as an expectant mother, doing all that she can to insure happy lives for her children.

sudden giddiness
spiralling up
with the thrush’s song