My best birthday present ever was the birth of my daughter almost 12 years ago. Next week I get to celebrate the oddity again, of sharing my birthday with my child. Of course I'm not the only person on the planet whose birthday coincides with their child's, but I feel strangely privileged regardless. "You're birthday's coming up," I say. "Our birthday Dad." Dad smiles inside.
The chances of you sharing a birthday with your child are obviously 1 in 365. It's a longshot, but it happens. Odds mean nothing though. Who cares about them? You've got something special.
It was about two years ago that I had a parent/teacher conference with my daughter's substitute teacher. The regular one, as odds would have it, was having a baby. We started talking about babies and I mentioned, quite proudly, that I share the same birthday as my daughter. The substitute did the pencil-drop and incredulous stare that you get from someone who doesn't believe what you've just told them. "Yep," I said. I thought she would make some comment about "what's the odds of that happening" but instead she replied, "Wow, so do I."
I knew I wasn't the only one, but what are the chances you'd meet someone who shares your birthday secret at a parent/teacher conference? Chances are I would never have met this woman if the regular teacher hadn't gotten pregnant, and what's the chances of that?
"Our birthday is in September," I said.
"Really, so is ours. September 27 in fact," she replied.
This time, it was my turn to drop the jaw and stare with incredulity.
Next week on September 27, my daughter will turn 12. I am one of the luckiest men around.
I gotta say that is pretty cool. I remember our middle daughter was scheduled to be born on my birthday and I remember hoping that it would turn out that way. She was late, though. ;-(
ReplyDeleteOur daughter came two days early.
ReplyDeleteInteressting stat: in a room filled with 20 people, the odds are 50-50 two people in the room will share the same birthday.
ReplyDeleteNot sure how to do all the stats that conspire to fit your case, though.
Too bad these fun statistics don't translate into an edge of being a better father than the next guy. Sometimes you're lucky. Most of the time you work at it though.
ReplyDelete