Growing up, I had a very important job in the my family. Every year when my dad would get a new planner, he would give it to me to fill in all the not-to-be-forgotten dates: birthdays, school vacations, and of course the most important holiday of the entire year--Groundhog Day, his favorite celebration of them all. I was always a little confused, though, when I got to the end of January and saw that the box for my own birthday on the 26th already had a holiday printed into it by the publisher. Australia Day?!
It wasn't until a few years ago when my T.A., herself a *very* proud (aren't they all, though?) Aussie, really impressed upon me what a "lucky Sheila" I am to have this fabulous holiday on my very own birthday. It seems the whole of Australia knocks off work on this day and--since it is midsummer Down Under--everyone heads to the beach or the football field (that's soccer to us Yanks) or the cricket pitch, everyone grills on the barbie and drinks Foster's and spends the entire day celebrating the national identity of a group of people whose country was founded on 26 January 1788 when the British shipped a bunch of prisoners to New South Wales and made it a penal colony.
So--yesterday was Australia Day. Which means it was of course also my birthday. And, birthdays are among the best when it comes to being events that generate stories. One of the things I did to celebrate was play a trivia game with my friends to see who knew the most stories from my life. It was funny to hear what people remembered. Even funnier, though, was hearing the fake stories people made up as part of the game in the moments when there was something in--or related to--my life they'd never heard about before.
You'll have a few of those stories, the real and also the fake, to look forward to in coming days. Want to hear about a funny, and yet very highly esteemed, award I won one summer while I was an undergrad? Want to read tales of my bedroom-hopping, not just for a night here and there but in some cases for weeks at a time? Want to know what my middle name is, and what *way cooler* middle name someone guessed I have? I'll tell you. Stay tuned...
no, what was funniest was when sarah lost control of her trivia game and her friends started making up their own trivia questions about sarah that other friends knew the answers to and which sarah did not always find completely flattering. that was funny.
ReplyDeleteSarah, for some reason I think your middle name is Anne. Is this right? Madeline
ReplyDeleteSarah, for some reason I think your middle name is Anne. Is this right? Madeline
ReplyDeleteMadeline,
ReplyDeleteWhoa! It is, actually--Ann with no final 'e'. How do you remember that?! That's amazing.
I think your middle name is Jane, which is what was guessed and what I think is way cooler on the middle name scale than the one I received. Why I think that, I have no idea. How wrong am I?
you think that because it was my guess, and you worship me and think that everything i say and think is brilliant. obviously.
ReplyDeleteUm, well, I actually just think it's a pretty cool name? But, hmm, if it makes you feel better to think that then...Yes!!! It IS because of all the ways I want to be just like you. Definitely.
ReplyDeleteSarah, you are absolutely right! My middle name is Jane. How do we know these things? I think Ann is an excellent name, but I do know an Ann who doesn't like it and calls herself "Anna" instead. I just read a novel where Anne Boleyn was a major character and she embodied intelligence, beauty and shrewdness.
ReplyDelete