Welcome to the cKotch.Com blog. I’m Christopher Kotcher, and this is one inspired birthday.
Brief Thoughts on Birthdays
Birthdays have always been something inspiring to me.
People come together to celebrate the gift of a loved one’s life. Thoughtful presents and celebrations bring tears to their recipients’ eyes.
Moments like these show me what it truly means for people to have strong relationships with each other. I cannot help thinking about these things with my own birthday fast approaching.
My thoughts focus on everything family and friends have done for me over the years. All the mini vacations, restaurant trips, and football games.
Through it all, one birthday really does stand out above the rest though. One birthday where everyone and everything truly came together.
This day would the last birthday of my school years. My eighteenth birthday.
A Weekend Setting
My eighteenth birthday had many things going for it. Brotherhood forged across four years, high school football playoffs, the release of a movie tailor-made for me.
I suppose this really was the perfect storm.
Still, the first ingredient which really brought everything together was the day of the week. You see, my eighteenth birthday was on a Friday.
Friday tends to be one of the best days for birthdays as a kid. You get to have fun with your friends at school. Then you can party the night away without having to get up too early the next day.
Festivities for Friday birthdays typically do not just end with Friday either. They often last through the whole weekend.
My eighteenth birthday was able to stretch well beyond a single day. I could fit in that much more stuff to really have my best birthday.
Brotherhood and Football
The next major ingredient was my old high school St. Mary’s.
I had found a strong bond of brotherhood with my classmates. That bond can be further seen in my posts “A Well-Known Name” and “Four Years of Football.”
The day started with our usual Friday mass. At the end, the headmaster stood to make announcements as always.
Our senior class made sure he included my birthday in that list. They wanted to fill the chapel with thunderous applause.
Festivities continued through the rest of the day.
My Spanish IV class dogpiled me on my way into the room. My College Calculus class ended with a class-wide performance of Happy Birthday led by our teacher.
Football practice ended with the biggest surprise of the day.
You see, we had a simple play walkthrough that day to prepare for our second playoff game the next day. After walkthroughs, we would always have a team dinner.
Turns out this team dinner would become my first birthday party of the weekend.
My parents had worked with the coaches to make a proper pizza party for this one. Our athletic trainer even made an awesome 3D football cake.
At feast’s end, time came for my birthday speech. I got a bit choked being there with everyone.
So, I decided to go for a joke. Since everyone knew me to be a Pokémon fan, I simply said, “I love you all, and Pokémon forever!”
That one really got them riled up.
Family Festivities
Saturday’s game proved an easy victory. Coach even ended his postgame speech with one last “Happy Birthday” wish from the school.
As I left the locker room that day, my school and my friends’ shift with my birthday ended. Now was the time for my family’s turn.
We mainly focused on honoring tradition. Ordering bacon and onion pizzas and getting plenty of stuffed cheese bread to go with it.
This was a smaller celebration than the grand times at school. It was nice to have both a big blowout and a more intimate gathering that year.
This was also the day I received my presents. So, that’s always nice too.
That Sunday we wrapped things up by going to see the original Wreck-It Ralph movie.
I have always been a gamer, so a Disney movie all about games was right up my alley. The flick did premiere on my birthday. So, I felt obligated to accept Mr. Disney’s gift for me.
Sitting there in that theatre I realized just how awesome my birthday was that year.
Everything came together. Everyone was a part of it.
I felt blessed to have them all in my life. I am blessed many of them are still in it, at least to some extent.
That birthday gave me one of the greatest feelings of gratitude I have ever had. I will never forget it.
What It Means to Care
Perhaps my best birthday is best seen as a sign of caring.
When you truly care for another person, you can and will do things they will never forget. Things they would always want to be a part of them.
I can only hope I can do something for someone done the line even half as great as this birthday.
At the very least, moments like this best birthday can inform my writing.
Whenever I want to write one character who cares for another, I look to things like this best birthday. I look to the moments where I most felt a sense of gratitude and belonging.
The greatest blessing would be if the characters could become models for people to care for their loved ones.
Kotcher’s Call to Action
If you like my content and wish to see more, then you have a few options.
You could check out my book Good Stuff: 50 Poems from Youth on Amazon. Good Stuff is enrolled in the Kindle Matchbook program, so anyone who buys the paperback can also get the eBook for free.
You can also check my Essential Posts page for links to some of my greatest posts to the cKotch.Com blog.
Finally, be sure to like my Facebook page and share it with your friends. I post a link there whenever a new blog post goes live each Friday at 5:00 PM EST.