About Birthdays
By Bill Shepard
My family has never been one to make much ado about birthdays. We sent a card each year to our grandchildren when they were little but just didn’t go for partying too much. I suppose that was partly because when my wife and I were children, times were so hard that folk could not do much partying! I suppose I could count on my hands the number of birthday parties (my own) I ever attended. Now, I’ve had a lot of birthdays but few parties!
The first birthday that I really have memories of happened a long time ago! The year was 1932 and I was ten years old! All day long at school, I kept saying to myself, “Today is the tenth day of April and I am ten years old!” To my young mind, it seemed there was something unusual about that. Of course, there wasn’t! Not one person in that classroom knew what was going on in my mind, and I did not want anyone to know. If I could have had a gift for my birthday of my own choosing it would have been to be miles from where I was sitting! Mom couldn’t have given me a better gift that morning than to say, “Bill, you can stay home from school today, it’s your birthday!” It didn’t happen, so I spent another boring day at school!
The dismissal bell rang and I was the first one out of the room. All the way home, I kept saying to myself, “Today is the tenth day of April and I am ten years old!”
I entered the small house where I lived and just as I did every school day, I headed for the kitchen! When I was ten years old, there was no lunchroom in public schools! Children carried a lunch from home, if they wanted one. My mom would offer to prepare a lunch for me but, most of the time, I turned the offer down. I suppose I had too much pride to carry a brown paper bag with a biscuit or sweet potato inside. The “uptown” children brought crackers, apple and things like that. I was envious of them, of course, but I didn’t let on that I was, so I went home hungry every day!
I made straight for the table, sat in my chair and folded my hands. Dad was still at the mill where he spent twelve hours every day. A next-door neighbor, one of my mom’s friends, was in the kitchen with mom. In those days, it was custom to place plates on the table turned down. That’s the way it was at our house. No one would turn their plate over until Daddy gave thanks for our food. Of course, Daddy was not in the kitchen now, so I waited for Mom to give permission for me to turn my plate upward. I waited as my mom and her friend cast glances at each other. I wanted to scream “Hurry up, I’m hungry!” Permission was granted and my plate was lifted…what should I see lying under the plate but a shiny dime? I felt like screaming,” “It’s the tenth day of April, I am ten years old and I have ten cents for my birthday gift!” I think my mom’s friend has prepared me a large plate full of friend potatoes, my favorite meal! I was beginning to feel like someone special! My young readers today might be thinking, why the fuss over a dime? Let me tell you the things I could purchase with a dime when I was ten years old. Ready?
•I could go to the movies at the Liberty Theater on the square, and I could watch the movie over and over as many times as I wished, and all for a dime!
•I could buy ten all-day suckers, enough to last a week, at the village store.
•I could purchase fifty Hershey’s Silver Bells or thirty Mary Janes!
•I could buy an RC Cola and five penny-packs of salted peanuts…what a treat that would be.
There isn’t enough space to list all the things I could buy with a dime when I was a boy. Now you know why my tenth birthday is such a memorable one!
NOTE: The above was written before a surprise birthday party was given- 95th birthday on April 10, 2017. What a surprise! Daughter Sharyn and her husband Stan with granddaughter Shana from Fort Meade, Fl. and dozens of local friends showed up at Bill’s house to celebrate his 95th birthday!
Now I have 3 memorable birthday surprises to brag about! I must change the first line of the above article—About Birthdays—Surprise! When I turned my plate up today, instead of one dime, there were 9 dimes and a nickel! Wow! This has been truly a memorable birthday!
Mr. Shepard is a native of Darlington, S.C., and a current resident of Piedmont, S.C. He is the author of “Mill Town Boy” and “Bruised”. He has been sharing his tales of growing up in Darlington for decades, and we are delighted to share them each week. His mailing address for cards and letters is: Bill Shepard 324 Sunny Lane, Piedmont, S.C., 29673.