OTHER PEOPLE'S BIRTHDAYS / / / DR. SEUSS

I think 
I think I first met Dr. Seuss at about the same time and in about the same way that many children do - very young, in the laps of my parents.  Later, I victimized one of his books as part of a project I undertook when I was five: copying down the text of The Lorax, word for word, out of a Seuss anthology that I was fond of going through.  It was probably a good exercise in handwriting and spelling and rhyming (none of which I considered) but what I was really doing was offering Dr. Seuss the sincerest compliment that I could at the time.  I was trying to steal his story.

Much later (and after I was thoroughly acquainted with the concept of plagiarism) I read a book about the life of Theodore Geisel.  If the stories are true, he was a playful man with a ridiculous sense of humor who spent years of his life writing and drawing for children but was uncomfortable if he ever had to talk to them.  He started signing himself Dr. Seuss while he was still in college, to cover his tracks when he published writing and drawings in a school magazine.  The name was a little bit silly, but so was he.  It stuck.

If he was still alive today, he would be celebrating his 110th birthday.  It sounds momentous, doesn't it?  The party would have to be colorful, but nothing too flashy.  That was the kind of person he was - the kind who would think outrageous thoughts quietly to himself and spin them later into huge, bright worlds that rhymed and had pink trees.

Happy birthday, Dr. Seuss.  We're eating cupcakes today in your honor.