Published: April 03, 2008 10:04 pm            

KEN HART: A month for many birthdays

Well, once again the calendar has rolled around to April.

It’s a month that, to most folks, calls to mind spring, rain showers and taxes.

To me, though, it means birthdays. Lots of ‘em.

That has always struck me as a little odd, too. Count back nine months on the calendar from April and you come to July — not exactly a month in which you’d expect a lot of conceptions to occur, what with people being involved in outdoor activities and all. But, I digress.

My birthday is this month, which is not such a big deal to me, seeing as how I’m long past the age of getting excited about the prospect of growing another year older.

Not only that, but it means the taxes on both my car and my motorcycle are due this month, which, well, sort of sucks, to be perfectly honest.

My wife’s birthday is this month — four days after mine, in fact.

My late father’s birthday was this month — on Tax Day, which made it really easy to remember. He would have been 78 this year.

And, my daughter’s birthday is this month — four days before my dad’s, nine days before mine.

This year’s birthday is a major one for her, too.

Yes, friends, in five short days, at precisely 3:47 in the afternoon, my little girl will turn 18. She will be a legal adult with all the rights and responsibilities attached thereto.

I’m having a really difficult time getting my brain around this.

Now I truly know what people meant when they told me about how fast kids grow up.

I mean, it still seems like only recently that her mother told me about her impending arrival. (It was the day after she and I had attended a concert — Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, to be exact — in Cincinnati.)

I can still clearly recall my daughter, as a little girl in a flowered dress with long ponytails.

I remember watching “The Lion King” and “Rock-A-Doodle” with her over and over and over again.

I remember her love for a stuffed bear that her mother had found someplace. She named it “O-Bear.” (Or, maybe she thought it looked Irish, in which case it would be “O’Bear,” I suppose.)

I remember the Beanie Baby craze, how nuts she was about those silly things, and the lengths that I would often go to in order to obtain them for her.

I remember taking her to her first really big concert — N’Sync at Columbus’ Nationwide Arena — when she was 11.

She and I have been through some difficult times, too. Her mother and I divorced when she was little, which was tough on her. My second divorce a few years later also left a few scars.

She’s come though everything, though, as a person of great strength and wisdom.

I’m probably embarrassing her the way I’m going on, so I’ll stop now.

I’ll just close by saying happy birthday, Cait. Your daddy loves you more than you could ever know.

KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2654.

        

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