ONE DAY OLDER THAN GEORGE WASHINGTON

I meant to write this yesterday on my birthday, but it's maybe even better to write it on George Washington's birthday.

When I was in school many years ago, we celebrated Abraham Lincoln's and George Washington's birthdays by having the school days off on Feb 12 and Feb 22. Every kid had those birthdays memorized. My birthday is Feb 21 so I was in school to hand out cupcakes on my birthday and be the "Birthday Girl" and then I got a holiday the next day. It was a great arrangement.

When I was first teaching Junior High, all my students knew those birthday dates too as we were still celebrating the individual days with a school holiday. If we were talking about when our birthdays were, I would say that I was one day older than George Washington and most kids would figure out when my birthday was and also laugh at such a funny idea as young Miss Stafford being older than the first president.

As the years progressed, however, I noticed the students shaking their heads in agreement and not finding anything strange about the idea of my being that old. I dropped that little attempt at humor.

Of course, now none of my students know what date George Washington was born as we lump the two presidents' birthdays together by celebrating a Presidents' Day on a Monday so we can have a 3-day week-end. Worse, now even I'm beginning to believe that the idea of my being one day older is not so far-fetched.