Warning Label: Today is Brian Silverman's Birthday, please read all instructions prior to responding.

So, today is my birthday and I think it incumbent on me to share some instructions.  Open with care, and please think carefully.. and read all of the instructions below.

If it were up to me I would bury my head in the sand of the beach and wake up tomorrow.  I don't take too well to being the center of attention, and honest it is a number to me and my memories of birthdays are sparse.

My birthday is one of those holiday birthdays.  It is one of the biggest holidays of them all, Thanksgiving and everyone celebrates Thanksgiving.   Ask me for memories of Thanksgiving and they are many, birthdays not so much.

Beyond my Bar Mitzvah, my birthdays have been mostly non-events.  They usually comprise of another holiday, another holiday preparation, and on rare occasion some errant human who thinks surprising me is a good idea.  (IT’S NOT MARK!)

My few birthdays I remember:

  • First birthday with Harry, we went dressed up to a fancy restaurant in New York with a Prix Fixe menu that was just amazing.  Then we went to my first Broadway Show Victor Victoria at theatre at the Marriott Marquis on Broadway.  Julie Andrews was the lead, but she was ill and I was disappointed but her understudy was fabulous.


  • I have written a few times about being alone, in Vegas, watching Bette Midler and how great I found that moment to be.


  • I remember a birthday party in Savannah as a kid.  I remember many of the kid’s parents calling my Mom relentlessly to verify that yes we kept kosher.  Then I seem to remember standing outside watching all the kids go in to the party, but I don't have much more memory of it than that. 
  •  I remember one birthday, we went to Cooks (Mom, Dad and I), and think they gave me a budget of $25 and I could buy whatever I wanted and I thought that was pretty special.
I have many more memories of Thanksgiving:

  • There is one Thanksgiving (and it may have been my birthday also, but who can remember, which is the point of this post) where it was just my parents, Grandmother and me at the Elks Club in Anderson, SC.  I remember feeling quite chipper and special as it was just me and them.  They had Pumpkin Pie and my mother was sure I would hate it but I liked it.


  • Many Thanksgivings at Grandmother's house, Bassners, Silvermans and Grandmother enjoying a turkey brought in from Atlanta and much of the fixings brought up by my Mom from Savannah. Including one special day when we cousins locked ourselves in a bedroom at my Grandmother's house to avoid a quite nosy and noisy aunt and discovering we couldn't open the door back up.


  • As an adult, cooking my first turkey at the house in Valley Cottage NY and getting to see the Firemen twice in a 24 hour period.  Nothing funnier than when they are close enough you can hear the sirens going and the doors slamming.  (Should have fed them... )  I had a smoke detector connected to a burglar alarm system.  I turned that damn smoke detector part off.


  • Cooking Thanksgiving with Jack, for 21 of our closest friends here in Fort Lauderdale and enjoying every minute.  They became our closest friends every time we went for a beer and the question was "What are you doing for Thanksgiving?" and then ended with of course come to our house.  Jack made a fabulous turkey.

I have been cooking turkeys, stuffing, and sweet potatoes for many years.  Numbers range from 2 to many more, and this year am just going out with friends.  I enjoy cooking, and am thinking of some time to have a party but this week just isn't that time.

So, my request for my birthday is simple and very sincere.

  • Continue to be my friends, enjoy today and smile, and let's go out for dinner sometime and just enjoy every day of life and not focus on this one day even for me.  
  • Do something special for yourself today, and smile and think of me, and we will all be happier for it!  (Even tell me what you did... if you choose!)  

Thanks to you all for your good wishes 
and love every day of my life.



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