The Birthday Breakfast

Posted by Aric McKeown on Sep 3, 2008 in In General | 2 comments

The goal was to keep my birthday low-key. You see, a perfect birthday is short on both stress and obligations. The only real plan was a trip to IKEA. And you’re right. It’s a zoo for furniture, and the people there walk around like they forgot the quickest path between two points. But I had prepared myself for IKEA. There would be no gawking-idiot induced stress. What I had not prepared myself for was IHOP.

No, I didn’t spell IKEA wrong. I mean the International House of Pancakes. Both IKEA and IHOP are located in the same vicinity, and a hearty breakfast was needed to make it through the one long hallway that was IKEA. After making several attempts were made to park our borrowed truck, my wife and I arrived at IHOP with breakfast delights in mind.

Everything started off simply enough. The IHOP, located near both the Mall of America and the airport, was packed. A 15 minute wait didn’t seem long at all for such a busy establishment. We took a seat in the lobby and waited as the manager called parties in a quirky and assuming fashion. “Robert party, welcome to paradise,” he would blast from the overhead system. “Dan party, what took you guys so long?” It was a chipper and quirky birthday treat.

Eventually my party of two was seated at a six person table with two other people. If this were New York, we would have had another party of two taking up the extra space. But being in Minnesota, we were given a buffer between the other couple. We ordered our food and received it without incident. This 10 AM breakfast had gone off perfectly.

And then came the incident. If it were up to me, I would never tell anyone it was my birthday. But my wife took over. “Do you do anything for birthdays,” she asked the waiter. “Oh yes,” said the waiter, in an oddly enthusiastic fashion. “We have ice cream,” he finished. Then he quickly walked off before he could be stopped. If there was ever a time to enjoy ice cream for breakfast, it was your birthday.

And then, suddenly, there was clapping. Rhythmic clapping, and it was headed my way. It seems our waiter had wrangled six other members of the IHOP wait staff, and they were beginning to open their mouths. Yep, singing came out. Who knows or cares what their made up “don’t sue us” birthday song was. All I could think was that this wasn’t a TGIF or Applebee’s. This shouldn’t have been happening! And now the whole restaurant was clapping along.

I had turned into a character from a Fantagraphics graphic novel. I wanted to let all the restaurant patrons know that this isn’t what I had wanted. They didn’t need to pay any attention to me. They should go about their business.

Still, I couldn’t stop myself from smiling and blushing. It was caught completely off guard and I was delighted. I really didn’t care if my birthday was acknowledged, but it felt pretty grand when it was.

We all have birthdays and they are never a surprise. We know they’re coming. Everyone has them. So what is so special? Maybe it is just a day to let down our barriers. To stop worrying about what others think of us and just celebrate ourselves for once. We don’t have to be an ass about it. It’s just our birthday is all. And we’re still alive, after all these years. And that’s pretty swell.

Also, go to IHOP for breakfast. The waiters don’t get to sing very often, and they’re happy to do it.

[Photo by philcampbell]