Important Birthdays--My Son's & Elvis'

      Yesterday was Elvis Presley's birthday. Today is my son's 34th birthday.
      So close that the family celebrates both birthdays for various funny reasons.

1) My mother "luved" Elvis and anything about him. So when Justin was born she was disappointed that, "My grandson couldn't have been born on Elvis' birthday. We'll just celebrate it a day early." So we did. He always got his presents and a party a day early when he was a kid. He probably thought that the radio stations and tv shows ran marathons of Elvis music, movies and documentaries just for celebration of his birth date.
      That is, until former President Richard M. Nixon died in 1994. The family was shocked that Jan. 9th was his and Justin's birth date. It took some of the glow off the day for our 15-year-old.

2) We continued on celebrating more Justin's real day than Elvis' or Nixon's, especially since Mom died in 1996. She had collected so much Elvis stuff, and I gathered a few items to keep as memories. She had owned three of his original Sun label 45 rpm records, but my younger brother had already stolen them and sold them sometime before 1977 when Elvis died. But she had 8 Track recordings and even a portable 8 track player; that was the only big item, even though she had taken my daughter to Graceland one summer. As far as I know the pictures, other paper items and mementoes were taken by her sisters, friends or the evil 2nd wife that my dad married later.

3) As Justin grew older, he moved away from sharing the Elvis birthday idea, until he moved to Seattle. There he met, fell in love and married a young woman who "luvs" Elvis and thinks my son looks so much like the young rock star. Justin began growing out his hair and sideburns during the first year of marriage. At Halloween they sent photos of him looking amazingly like a young Elvis Presley come alive again.

The collection and attraction of Elvis materials has grown some-what overpowering to my son, but my daughter-in-law still keeps collecting and celebrating Elvis' and Justin's birthdays, Jan. 8 and 9.
And they are not the only ones.
If you do, or know someone who does, give me a contact and let me know about it. Thanks.