Writers Workshop Thursday: Describe a Childhood Birthday.

I am lucky. I have a birthday in September and unless there is some sort of freaky weather going on, it is usually one of those beautiful late summer/early fall days.

When I was little, I loved to make things with clay. Not just play-doh or modeling clay but the kind that would harden and you would keep for ever and ever. I knew how to make pinch pots, animals, ash trays and an assortment of other decorative items that would not hold water. My Mom decided to run with this for my 7th birthday. She rented a movie projector and a film about making pottery. We all watched and learned and then longed for a potters wheel of our own. After the movie we all trooped outside to the picnic table where big shirts were waiting for everyone to put on and also…big blocks of clay. We shaped and molded and tried to apply what we learned in the movie to our masterpieces. One of my best friends kept laughing and declaring the clay ‘gross’ but she was having a fabulous time. When we were done, we washed up and headed inside for cake and presents.

I will never forget this birthday because it was original and fun and creative…all the things a 7 year-olds party should be.