Saturday, November 22, 2008

Happy Birthday, Brighid!

My little sister is 13 today!

Since I was 12 when she was born, I remember Biddie's babyhood best of all. At the moment she was born, my brothers and I were just sitting down to watch the 6:00 showing of Toy Story at our crappy local movie theatre with our cousins. Even though she was born at a few minutes before 6, the midwives recorded her birth time as a few minutes after 6 because 6:00 was the cutoff for staying overnight. If a baby was born before 6, mom and baby went home the next morning — after 6, they got a two night stay. That meant that my mom got to spend Thanksgiving cuddled up in bed, rather than with the extended family. She has often said it was the best Thanksgiving ever.

Biddie in a pleasant mood:
Her christening was held at a reenactment in Rhode Island. The priest at our church didn't often do off-site sacraments, but when my mom asked him to do the christening, he was reading a Civil War-themed novel and took that as a sign. I baked dozens of pound cakes for that christening and never liked them much after that. I also embroidered little green shamrocks on the ruffle of her christening bonnet. You can sort of see them in this picture (Bid at christening with her godmother, cousin Mary Ellen):
Another happy baby pic (Christmas, 1996):
We don't see that expression much anymore. This is more typical:
Enjoy your teenage years, Biddie!

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