My family’s embarrassing tradition

Ava Breston

A bright light flashed from the corner of my eye. I got up from the comfy, black,leather couch and grabbed my phone from the glass table, “Reminder: mom’s birthday is tonight.” We had invited my South African side of the family to dinner for my mom’s birthday. I knew what dinner with my South African family meant. Please don’t sing the song, please don’t sing it, I prayed.

After a delicious dinner, a young man dressed in his black uniform strolled towards our table carrying my mom’s cake. I stared at the delectable lemon blueberry cake. The cake had vanilla frosting slathered all over it and was topped with two golden candles that made the number “51”. The cake was gently placed on the table, as everyone reached for their phones to video the special moment, “3, 2, 1, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Susan, happy birthday to you! And many mooore!” My family sang excitedly. The song was over and my mom breathed in, preparing to blow out her candles. “Whoosh,” my mom extinguished the flames. I’m so excited to eat cake. Suddenly, my South African family started singing a song familiar to me and my family, but unfamiliar to everyone else in the restaurant. Every year, they had the tradition of singing this song after happy birthday, “Why was she born so beautiful, why was she born at all? Because she had no say in it, no say in it at all!”

I felt everyone’s eyes on us, staring because of our unfamiliar words, and our unfamiliar accents. My face turned as red as a tomato and my palms began to sweat. I wished I could crawl under the table. Thoughts bursted into my head,They probably think we’re weird.

A few months after my mom’s birthday, I questioned, “Mom, why do we sing a song after happy birthday?” “It’s a tradition in our family. When I lived in South Africa, we sang it all the time,” she replied, “When I was 12 years old, we left our country to find a new home. The country was changing for the worse, and we ultimately made the decision to leave. I’ll never forget the day we left. It was so chaotic, riots were all around us. We had to get escorted by police to the airport. On the plane to America, I glanced out the window to take a look at my beautiful country one last time. As I looked at the ocean, the mountains,the nature, a tear rolled down my cheek. I was heartbroken to leave behind my friends, memories, and the life I had lived. We left behind everything, but we promised we wouldn’t leave behind our traditions. We continued the tradition of singing the song during birthdays and passed on the tradition to our children.” After discovering the meaning behind the song, I realized that the song was a compass, pointing my family back home to South Africa. Suddenly, I felt proud to celebrate my family’s “embarrassing” tradition. After years of being embarrassed of my family’s “different” song, I now realized that being different can be a good thing.