Thursday, February 14, 2008

bunna and the big 3-0


Today Bunna turned 30. This special day offers us a unique occasion to explain his middle-child complex. Not only is Bunna a semi-forgotten second child - somewhere in between the favorite oldest and the spoiled youngest - he even has to share his February 14th birthday with the rest of the romantically inclined world. Maybe a few pictures can help illustrate. While his brothers were surprised each year on their birthdays with Dad's latest cake design featuring frosting-covered football helmets, basketballs, and even their (or Dad's) favorite Sesame Street characters (fig. 1).

Fig. 1: Dad with a Grover cake. Nice glasses!

Bunna was never so lucky. While he longed for the big red block letter "U" or the Los Angeles Raiders (before they moved back to Oakland) football helmet, he was yearly presented, to his snowballing disappointment, with a pink heart cake. Though the cake was always decorated a little differently - candy hearts here or a maybe some red M&Ms there, the basic pattern was the same: bright pink frosting covering a double-layer, heart shaped chocolate cake (fig. 2-5). Maybe some pictures will help illustrate the extent of the pain Bunna has suffered over the years.

Fig. 2: Bunna's second birthday. We can see here that the basic pattern has been established.
Fig 3: Bunna's third birthday. Note 1981's improvisation: the candy-clustered center.
Fig. 4: Bunna's fourth birthday. As if the shape of the cake wasn't already apparent, it gets emphasized in the 1982 edition with the red candy heart border.
Fig. 5: Although blurry, we can see by Bunna's sixth birthday that the cake has risen to new heights.
This painful past has caused Biff to look for alternatives when it comes to the traditional birthday cake. This year the candles were placed atop Bunna'a favorite: a cinnamon roll. Biff used the heart-shaped cake pan (an unthinkably cruel wedding gift) to store the other birthday goodies. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BUNNA!

7 comments:

Alicen said...

So sad, and yet oh so funny! Happy Birthday Spencer!

Anonymous said...

But Spen, you looked so happy in those pictures. I think maybe there is still a place in your heart for heart shaped cakes. Happy Birthday !!!!

Brad said...

How tragic! We used to get cakes that were decorated like bunnies. Coconut was used for the fur. I don't like coconut...

However, we did have a ninja turtle head cake. And that made up for years of gross coconut-bunny cakes.

tweedlediva said...

This just explains so much! Next year come get my rubber duck or Octopus cake pan!!! Happy birthday- welcome to the exclusive we-are-better-than-you-because-we-remember -thundercats club!

Liz Findlay said...

Spencer Snow, how the heck are you doing? Are you still doing the PhD??? I'm hanging on by a thread... I ran into a colleague of yours (don't you love the sound of that word by the way) at a conference last year. Small world. Anyway, congratulations on the darling little baby and the lovely wife. Hope all is well and tell Garth and Ane to update their blog, will ya? Come to Guatemala whenever you need a break from that stuff they call snow... AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Anonymous said...

So happy to hear about the break in a long chain of heart cakes. Also just wanted to say I think your red checked mini disco suit complete with velvet vest is the mother of all things groovy (see Fig. 2).

Seymour Glass said...

wow, spanky, you had a lot of nice hair in the 80's. not to mention a fly wardrobe. but you do have an unfortunate birthday that takes the focus off of you. on the other hand, it sure is easy to remember for people like me.