My strange birthday

Well, it is almost time for my birthday and each year I have been feeling less excited as it approaches. 

I’m not sure if the past few years have taken some of the joy out of celebrations because of the pandemic and then my shingles diagnosis, but this year feels different. 

I am truly excited to be turning 26, it feels like more of a personal milestone in my life. It is also the second birthday I will be celebrating in the Crowsnest Pass so that is exciting too. 

As I get ready to celebrate my birthday, I figured I would share one of the stranger facts about the day I was born. First and foremost, I share the same birthday with my brother. My older brother. 

For all of the differences between my brother and I, it can come as quite a shock to people. People are generally confused at the start of learning this and they ask if we are twins. 

This couldn’t be less the case. He was born two years before me on December 2, over a month early. He had a due date set in January and was incredibly premature.

I on the other hand, was not early... I was late. I was set to be born in November but three days later and I would come out on the same day as my brother.  A C-section baby weighing over 10 pounds compared to my brother hovering around five pounds.

My dad has some wonderful jokes abut me as a baby that I would love to share. The one he likes to joke about the most is that I was a ‘tumour baby’, not born but removed. He also thought I looked almost three months old when he held me for the first time. 

The funniest thing that happened on the day of my birth though? That would be my brother thinking I was his birthday present. 

Apparently, my two-year-old brother couldn’t stop saying “My baby” and didn’t want to hand me back to my parents.

My brother will usually roll his eyes when I bring it up, but it’s always fun to remind myself just how unique of a situation we found ourselves. Neither of us were even supposed to be born in December but we managed to be born the same day. Such an incredible coincidence.

The joint birthdays growing up may not have been the ideal situation but we made it work and now we get to wish each other a happy birthday on the same day as the other. It has honestly just made us closer as we’ve grown into adulthood.

Although I loathed it once, it has become one of my favourite things in the world. Sharing with people the incredibly unique circumstances in which I find myself has always been fun. 

I hope you have a great birthday in Saskatchewan this year and I hope the three boys aren’t giving you too much trouble. I can’t wait to see them at Christmas this year, tearing into their gifts.

I’ll be attending events around town on my birthday this year, but I am not letting that get me down!

It should be a lot of fun celebrating getting older with the beginning of the Crowsnest Pass’ Christmas activities this weekend. 

Hopefully this is just one of many more birthdays I am able to celebrate in this remarkable place I currently call home.