Did Strawberry Shortcake have strawberry fingers?

My birthday is tomorrow and let me tell you that’s the first thing I thought of when I woke up this morning. I was wishing today was my birthday. I was also wishing I didn’t have to spend my birthday in the Tampa airport waiting for my parents flight to get in so I can take them to my grandparents house. Such.is.life. I am also kind of sad because it is the first birthday that I don’t get to spend with FI in FIVE years! We are going to celebrate my birthday next weekend, but with all the great things he has done in the past…me being gone totally gets him off the hook.

I am going to Tampa for my gpa’s 90th birthday party. His birthday and my birthday are on the same day. I guess he was actually pissed when I was born and asked my mom why she couldn’t hold it in for one more day. Seeing as though he’s my dad’s dad and holing in a baby once labor has progressed seems…well uncomfortable at the least…I don’t think she was too happy about this comment. So because I am only turning 28, not such a milestone, I am going to downplay my absolute *love* of my birthday for my grandpa’s sake. He swears up and down he is dying when he turns 90 – so we’ll let him whoop it up just this one last time :)[I hope he doesn’t drop dead at his party, that will be a downer] Guess what he asked for for his birthday? …give up? A Wii! Yep, my 90 year-old pop-pop wants a video game. He played it at our family reunion this past 12/25th and really liked the bowling. It only took FI about an HOUR to get him to release the trigger…but he had a blast. It is actually my favorite memory to date of my gpa.



I have a pocket full of memories of him and as he gets older, I like to replay them in my mind – so I can keep them there longer. My grandparents lived in NY so we didn’t see them much. We would stay with them over the summer and they’d take us to the Statue of Liberty and the Museum of Natural History. There was a Barbie Winnebago in his basement for me and my cousins to play with – Barbie must have been rich back them because this place was rockin'. MTV called her in 1985 and asked her to have it on 'Cribs' but she didnt want all of the cameras in my gpa's basement. True story.

Anyway, when I was little I used to suck my fingers. When gpa saw me doing it he would ask me “What flavor?” I would laugh, familiar with this joke but pretended not to know. He would say, “Oh it looks like strawberry today… ick!” I would shake my head implying that in fact my fingers did not taste like a red-seeded berry. So he would reply, “No? Then it must be… CHOCOLATE! Chocolate is my favorite finger flavor!” He would then grab for my hand and pretend like he was putting my finger in his mouth and sucking on it as I giggled uncontrollably. “Bleeck,” he would say, “...these fingers taste terrible, you really should not suck them!”

Happy Birthday to me and grandpa!