the day i fell in love

The day is May 7, 1983. Just one day earlier, Steve and Jill Brown welcomed their fifth child, little Michael Alan Brown into the world. But today, at 1 day old, Michael is going to fall in love with one of his greatest passions, crying tears of agony and of joy along the way. On this day, little Mikey Brown is listening to his first Red Sox game. Back in the early 80's, people were less rude, so hospitals were commonly fitted with head phones for people looking to watch TV Now-a-days, people blare their TV as loud as they want with no regard for hospital roommates (but this is a different topic for a different day). My parents were in the hospital room with their newest little treasure and my dad was doing what any good Red Sox fan would do...he was watching the game. As it turned out, pitching for the Red Sox on this day was Mike Brown. My dad thought it was so cool that a guy with the same name as his little boy was pitching. So my dad did what any good Red Sox dad would have done: He put the headphones on my little ears and let me listen to some of the game. Aside from causing long-term hearing problems (joking) the sounds went through my ears and straight to my heart. And naturally, as would only be fitting, Mike Brown pitched a complete game shutout against the Seattle Mariners on this day. I like to think I had something to do with that. You can view the boxscore of the game for verification by clicking here. So, at 1 day old, my passion for the game of baseball and the Boston Red Sox was birthed. And it has only grown ever since.

wait...when's his birthday?

Nothing beats that special day of the year where you celebrate the greatest escape of your life! The day when you finally won your freedom from the womb! For me, today is that day...or is it? So, my mother sent me something on Facebook yesterday for my birthday (that's right, my mom's hip to Facebook). I called her up and asked her why she jumped the gun and sent me something a day early. She informed me that she thought that the app wouldn't send the gift to me until today (I said she was hip to it...not that she's mastered it, ok). What happened next surprised me. My mom said, "When you were younger I did think it was May 5th though!" WHAT?!?!?! How could my own mother get my birthday wrong? She still doesn't know how she mixed it up, but she and my dad thought it was the 5th for a while. Then some friends of theirs visited (thank God, it was actually before my 1st birthday or they would have celebrated on the wrong day) who had a girl on the same day I was born. My mom said to the guy, "It's funny that we both had kids on May 5th," to which the guy responded, "My daughter was born on May 6th." WHOOPS!!! I would like to thank that guy for saving me from a wrongful celebration. This would explain why when I was like 13 and we decided to quiz my dad on our birthdays, he got the other four kids right while he thought mine was May 5th. I've seen my birth certificate, so I know that it is the 6th, but apparently my parents didn't bother to look. So instead of being a cinco de mayo baby, I'm a seis de mayo baby. Birthdays were cooler and more meaningful when you were a kid, but Happy Birthday to me just the same, this SIXTH day of May. Tune in tomorrow to read about what I did for the first time at 1 day old. I promise it's a classic and you won't want to miss it...no joke!