18

“You know your children are growing up when they stop asking you where they came from and refuse to tell you where they’re going.” — P. J. O’Rourke

Today I become the Mom of an “adult” – Happy 18th Birthday Tommy!

I love milestone birthdays as it’s the perfect time to celebrate and share outstanding stories, life lessons, experiences, knowledge, wisdom, failures, and successes.

I looked up the history of birthday celebrations and found that while many cultures developed birthday celebrations separately, the Egyptians were the first ones to get the party started. When Egyptian pharaohs were crowned gods, they were “birthed.” That means the first birthday celebration wasn’t marking the birth of a human, but rather the birth of a god. Birthday candles started with Artemis, the moon goddess. To help celebrate Artemis, Greeks offered her cakes adorned with glowing candles. While these cakes weren’t meant to celebrate Artemis’ birth, they eventually made their way into birthday celebrations. They also believed that smoke helped carry their messages to the gods and by blowing out candles, you help send your wishes skyward (Bouqs).