Birthday

The 12th is my uncle's birthday. Normally, he may get a happy birthday in passing. We don't really make a huge deal of birthdays in this family once you hit a certain age and the "kids" have never really been one to get involved in birthday stuff. Yeah, if there's a party/food/event of some sort, most of us will be there but we don't really initiate anything. My uncle has had a really rough year and it's been hard on him. My mom mentioned the other day that she thinks he likes spice cake so while at the store tonight I bought one to make and Jasmine picked out some candy pieces to put on the cake. (I had never had spice cake till my aunt Penny made it for me and it's been one of my favorite's ever since) We're having dinner at my mom's on Sunday and I invited my uncle. He's supposed to let me know tomorrow if he'll be able to make it and if he can, I'll make the cake the night before. I also plan on surprising him next weekend on or the day before his birthday with the cd that I've been planning out for him since around last Christmas. You would think it wouldn't be too hard to get together 13 or so songs for someone but when those songs come off a juke box from 25-30 years ago, it can get iffy. I have complied a list of 13 songs that may or may not have been on it. I KNOW a couple of them were and a few I'm not sure about. Some of them were really depressing that could have been on it so I chose to omit them completely. I want him to feel happy memories when listening to it, not feel more depressed. I'm also adding a few songs that weren't on the box. They're some of my grandpa's favorites and I think that was the entire reason for him asking me to request that song at his daughter's wedding. Maybe I'm reading too much into it and he just wanted to hear a song from way back when but I'm sure he'll enjoy it either way. Usually my uncle and I trade jabs at each other's football teams or what-have-you and I'd like to do something nice for him. I don't know what to do for him for make things easier in his life right this moment but the least I can do is show that I care and am thinking about him. And hey, I'm bringing cake. What's better than cake?