Yesterday was my father’s ninety-sixth birthday. I never had any intention of putting candles on the cake, but my brother brought four boxes of 24 birthday candles which added up to exactly 96, so it seemed a fitting sign. Besides, there didn’t seem to be very many of them when they were sitting side by side so innocuously in the boxes. Luckily (or maybe unluckily) we had fireplace matches, which are about eight inches long, otherwise those candles would never have been lit. Still, it took four people to light the candes before they burnt out.
Once the candles were lit, they became a single flame, so I never did get to see ninety-six tiny candle flames cheerfully paying homage to all those years.
As my brother said, “In retrospect, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.” Next year, we’ll get the candles with numbers, but when my father hits 100, we’ll go for 100-candlepower, but maybe a bigger cake . . .
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Pat Bertram is the author of the suspense novels Light Bringer, More Deaths Than One, A Spark of Heavenly Fire, and Daughter Am I. Bertram is also the author of Grief: The Great Yearning, “an exquisite book, wrenching to read, and at the same time full of profound truths.” Connect with Pat on Google+
February 3, 2013 at 1:55 pm
Those photos are positively eerie! I love them.
February 3, 2013 at 2:42 pm
They look like some kind of mystic ritual, don’t they?
February 3, 2013 at 3:14 pm
No offense to your dad, but in the glow of the candlelight he looks like the leader of some sort of demonic ritual.
coming from me, that’s a compliment.
February 4, 2013 at 11:35 am
I lightened the photo. The original one actually did look demonic (or maybe just wizardly).
February 4, 2013 at 1:19 pm
send it to me!
February 4, 2013 at 3:23 pm
I posted it in today’s blog.
February 3, 2013 at 1:59 pm
Pat, this is amazing. So glad you got them all lit but you will clearly need a large large large cake for 100. Happy birthday to you dad.
February 3, 2013 at 2:44 pm
We’d also need to take the time to remove the wax from the wicks before we lit the candles. That’s what took so long — holding the flame to the candle until the wax on the wick melted.
I don’t think he’ll make it to a hundred, but you never know.
February 3, 2013 at 5:01 pm
I think it’s pretty cool, actually. Hope your father appreciated it, looks like he did.
February 3, 2013 at 5:56 pm
A great story well illustrated. It may be the strange happenings and the occasional surprise in life that would make reaching 100, let alone 96, worthwhile. Also there’s family…