Yesterday I posted a couple of photos from my father’s ninety-sixth birthday party, and here are a couple more where he looks very wizardly. (The second one is actually the unretouched photo I posted for the benefit of Rami Ungar, whom I sure you know through his comments on this blog.)
In retrospect, perhaps lighting 96 candles wasn’t the smartest thing to do. One brother who didn’t make it to the party emailed me and asked if everyone behaved. I responded, “You mean except for the part where we lit 96 candles?” He replied, “No EMTs were called, so that doesn’t count.”
What does count, though is that it was an adventure. My life is too staid and going nowhere fast, so I decided to go in pursuit of 101 adventures. Until the candle incident, the number of adventures I’ve had so far this year is zilch. Zero. Nada. So, now I have only 100 more to go. (The resolve for 101 adventures wasn’t really a New Year’s resolution, though the resolution was made on New Year’s Day, because there is no way I can fit that many adventures into a single year and still look after my father.
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Pat Bertram is the author of the suspense novels Light Bringer, More Deaths Than One, A Spark of Heavenly Fire, and Daughter Am I. Bertram is also the author of Grief: The Great Yearning, “an exquisite book, wrenching to read, and at the same time full of profound truths.” Connect with Pat on Google+
Bertram's Blog 
February 4, 2013 at 3:46 pm
AAAAAH! So scary it’s cool!
February 4, 2013 at 4:44 pm
I’m curious. How did the cake come through it all? Toasted? Melted? Carbonized? Inquiring minds must know.
February 4, 2013 at 6:27 pm
The cake came through fine, or it would have if it weren’t for melted candle wax and ash from the matches. Apparently, the icing wasn’t flamable. (Though with all the fat, it should have been.) We skimmed off the top layer of icing, and the rest was fine.
When we were young, my mother used birthday candle holders, so maybe I’ll try that when my father reaches 100, but with the immense flames, the holders would probably have melted since the plastic “happy birthday” in the center of the cake did.
February 4, 2013 at 4:56 pm
Wow! What a bonfire! What great pictures, and thanks for sharing your 96 years young Dad!
February 5, 2013 at 2:01 am
I think the photo’s, the idea, and the consequenses were all excellent :).
February 5, 2013 at 9:24 am
Thank you! My father says I’m getting as bad as my brothers. Maybe there is hope for me yet!