This Saturday our nation honors its 233rd birthday. Big Papa, also born on the 4th of July, turns 45. When you’re born on the 4th of July, the entire nation is celebrating on “your” day. It’s a national holiday and families have the day off. There are picnics, BBQs and, of course, fireworks.

In our neighborhood, the festivities get started days prior. Bottle rockets and M-80s fill the silence of the night and for Big Papa, a good night’s sleep on his birthday, can be nigh impossible. A few years ago, when we started dating, I asked him what he wanted for his birthday. “Peace and quiet,” was the response. I laughed, “The only place you’re going to get that is in another country.” Then it hit me. “Canada!” I exclaimed. “Brilliant!” said Big Papa. And so our Canadian birthday tradition began.

One year we went to Salt Spring Island off the coast in the Canadian Gulf Islands. Twice we visited the little town of Ladner, just north of the Canadian border on the Frasier River, where we stayed at the lovely River Run Cottages.

This year, we’re going to Vancouver. I’m embarrassed to say that in our mutual 24 years of living in the Pacific Northwest, neither of us has ever been to Vancouver proper, just three hours (plus a border crossing) north from where we live. I’ve heard wonderful things about the city, both its physical beauty and thriving cosmopolitan culture. Big Papa and I are really excited about this trip.

Big Papa’s holiday birthday got me ruminating about birthdays in general and the significance of the day you are born. I marveled at the irony of being born on Independence Day. Big Papa’s birthday was his first independent day from his mother’s womb.

Birthdays that fall on holidays are fraught with competing interests. I have a few friends whose birthdays fall between Christmas and the New Year. They have commented that presents get “combined” and their birthday plays second fiddle to the hubbub surrounding the holidays. Other friends with birthdays on holidays have said that it was tough to find attendees for birthday parties because their friends were celebrating the holiday with family or out of town.

The day, month and year of your birth is also filled with meaning. We typecast by the Zodiac signs, chit-chatty Gemini twins and cautious Cancer crabs. Following Chinese astrology, Year of the Pig folks are known for chivalry and Year of the Dragon people are thought to be energetic.

In anticipation of my adopted niece’s arrival from China, I bought all sorts of bunny-themed gifts to commemorate her birth in the year of the Rabbit, or so I thought. Her birthday falls in late January. Since the Chinese astrology is based on a lunar calendar, the new year shifts, sometimes by as much as several weeks. It turned out that my niece was actually born in the Year of the Tiger!

Not knowing the exact date of birth is a common conundrum for adoptees. Orphanages frequently make an educated guess as to the window of time when the baby may have been born and assign a birthday. In thinking about birthdays, my mind wanders to our child, who has by now, likely entered the world. I look forward to the day when I can set a candle on his cake to honor his birth, even if the date turns out to be something of a mystery.