Stories to Celebrate and Prizes to Win

Ann H GabhartAnn's Posts, One Writer's Journal

“Nobody can be uncheered with a balloon.” ~A.A. Milne
Have you ever had balloons on your birthday? Balloons just seem to say let’s celebrate. Just ask Winnie the Pooh. That old bear can float around with a balloon and enjoy every day, birthday or not. 
So today here are some balloons to get us in the birthday mood and to remind you that this month I’m celebrating getting older by giving away some prizes. Three winners will get gift cards and their choice of one of my books. Check out complete prize details on my website. Entry is easy. Just send me a message from my website or leave a comment here on a new blog post in September. Please remember to leave a way to contact you in case your name rises to the top of my drawing hat. For fun, you can share a birthday story and get a bonus entry in the giveaway. 
I love hearing your stories and I will eventually get around to reading them all. My surgery has slowed me down a little, but I’m getting back up to speed. Of course, with adding on another year, speed is a relative term. Perhaps I should say I hope to keep plugging along. 
Age wasn’t a problem for Karen in this birthday story she shares. She was turning that magical “I can drive” age. But the license issuing offices just would not stay open for her. Here’s Karen’s story.
I’ll be ?? on November 11th. Now my
birthday is a federal holiday so all state & federal government offices are
closed on 11/11 and where do you go to get your driver’s license? Right,
a government office. Well, when I turned 16 I was very anxious to get my
first driver’s license. I was so upset that the DMV office was closed on
my birthday that I called about a week before to see if I could get my DL on
the 10th since it wasn’t MY fault they weren’t open on the 11th. LOL Well, of course, the answer was NO. That year my birthday was
the longest day ever waiting for the 12th to arrive and I could get my driver’s
license. Don’t we sometimes wish we had those youthful days back again?
Indeed, Karen. Oh, to be 16 again, but then I don’t think I want to take that driver’s test again. I was soooo nervous when I had to take a ride with the state policeman giving the test. But maybe not as nervous as he was. LOL. 
When Karen told me I could share her story forward she added how the story makes her smile now when she thinks about her impatience. To add to her anticipation, her brothers were both in the service and had left their old Chevy at home and given Karen permission to drive it. So there was that car in the driveway just begging her to get under the wheel and start it up, except her parents hid the keys. Our parents just know us too well sometimes. For sure that day had to be Karen’s “longest day ever!”
But about those balloons again. They aren’t much fun until we put a little effort into filling them either with our own breath or some helium to make them float. Did you ever wonder if you could float up in the sky if only you could hold onto enough balloons? 
As Karen says, oh to be young again with a zillion dreams clasped in our hands as life beckoned us down dozens of exciting roads. Each birthday is a milestone and one we’re celebrating with balloons today.