Saturday, August 20, 2005

Birthday Card Quote of the Day

Yes, yes. In the slightly amended words of Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen" 'They're really rockin in Dublin, and Pittsburg P.A., Deep in the Heart of Belfast, at the Errigle Inn...'

But as I'm here 'round the Frisco Bay, I'm getting ready for an annual Birthday Party of a friend that will need all of the next day and beyond from which to recover.

There was the question of the birthday card. Looking through our stack, we settled on a lovely card with an image that seemed perfect for the lady being feted this day. Trouble was: it was blank. Some form of literary creativity would be required. Having none on hand, we settled for using someone else's literary creativity: a quotation.

This led to the discussion of what to quote.

The husband said "What did Ben Franklin have to say about Birthdays?"

Tempted by the thought of something from the "Older Women are Better at Sex" essay that Mr. Franklin bequeathed to a grateful world, my fingers hovered over the blank Google bar. But then:

"What about Mark Twain?" I asked.

The husband rallied with "What about Oscar Wilde?"

Now we were talking! A quick google to find a page of Oscar Wilde quotes soon led to us contemplating the following possible birthday sentiments:

A man's face is his autobiography. A woman's face is her work of fiction.

The husband said "It's good, but not quite birthday."

At 46 one must be a miser; only have time for essentials.

The husband said "We don't know if she's 46. We may be under the mark, which would be disasterous."

As long as a woman can look ten years younger than her own daughter, she is perfectly satisfied.

The husband approved of the sentiment but pointed out there was no daughter in this particular picture. And then:

Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.

The husband: "I LIKE it!"

And so there was our quote, which we followed with "Happy Birthday Rachel, May your future be bright!"

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed you blog about business letter. I also have a site about business letter which makes me appreciate this one even more! Keep up the good work!