During my grade school years, February 28th was undoubtably one of my favorite days of the year. It was a day of triple celebration that had nothing, but everything to do about me. The best thing about celebrating February 28 was that the celebration began the day before.
My favorite candy bar when I was young, and come to
think of it even now, was a Milky Way bar.
And I am old enough to remember when candy bars were large enough to
fill the entire wrapper. Nowadays when
you purchase a treat of most any kind, when you open it up, the treat seems to
have disappointedly shrunk during shipment from the factory. But there was a time when you opened the
wrapper and you were not disappointed.
I had a classmate by the name of Amy whose birthday fell
on February 28. My favorite thing about
Amy was that her favorite candy bar was also a Milky Way bar. Not only did Amy always bring of all us classmates
a Milky Way bar as a treat on her birthday, but there was no skimping. We
had two classes of each grade at St Jude when I was a student there. Amy’s parents, and therefore Amy herself, was
generous to not only bring a candy bar for everyone in both classes, she brought us the big “King Size” Milky Way.
Amy’s birthday treat wasn’t the only candy bar that we
got that day. February 28 was also the
birthday of our pastor, Father Baier. Father
Baier gave every student in the school an O Henry candy bar because that was
his favorite. He came to each classroom and personally passed them out to make sure every child, and the teacher got one. He also gave us the “King
Size” candy bar. I have always been a
fan of generosity, especially when it benefitted me. It was almost better than Halloween because you
didn’t have to go door to door to get them, and they weren’t the little sample-sized
candies. They were delivered right to
our desk, large and delicious.
Father Baier’s generosity did not stop at the mere
candy bar level. He provided us with the
ultimate gift for every child. He gave
us all the day off of school! That’s why we got
those two candy bars on February 27,because February 28 was a school holiday. I don’t think such generosity is even legal
today with regulated class hours, school bus schedules and both parents many
times working away from home. Father Baier I recall was a serious, but happy priest.
I’m sure if someone would have asked him what his greatest gift was, his
answer would have centered on his ministerial priesthood. But in my eyes, as a young school kid, having
the authority to call off school for a day was right up there!
Lastly, and most personally, February 28 is also my
brother Mike’s birthday. My parents didn’t
make a big deal about celebrating birthdays with special presents, but there was
likely going to be cake for dessert after supper. Mike’s favorite cake was chocolate with
fluffy white frosting and shredded coconut.
Conveniently for me, that was also one of my favorite cakes as
well. Well, any cake my mother baked was
one of my favorites, but I was definitely fond of that one.
So, two king-sized candy bars, birthday cake for
dessert, and a holiday from school was an annual multiplication of blessings
that came every February for seven years of my young life. In my early age I was happy for myself. In my more “seasoned” years now, I can
reflect gratefully on those others. They
are all three in my thoughts and in my prayers today.
And I am grateful that I can look at the mirror these days, and see
someone besides me. God is so generous!
“Consider this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 2 Corinthians 9:6
His Peace <><
Deacon Dan
Photo by David Becker on Unsplash
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