Deflated

Five years ago, Mr. W. and I took a trip to upstate New York to wish my great-grandmother a happy 95th birthday. My grandmother, parents, siblings and a whole host of other relatives gathered together to wish Grandma T. a very happy birthday.

I started to get very excited as 2006 rolled around and my great-grandma’s 100th was rapidly approaching. I planned to put together a special ‘Happy 100th' card that included pictures of my little family. I wanted to tell all my friends how great it was to have another centenarian in the family.

Thursday night, my mother deflated my little balloon. Apparently many years ago, Grandma T. saw the need to lie about her age. The family only this year discovered that she was NOT born in 1906. She was actually born in 1905.

I know this is really self-absorbed of me, but I sort of feel robbed. Where’s the chance to make the big hoopla about turning 100? I’m seriously considering pretending like I never heard about the change in birth year.

M.W.