Birthdays -- PS

I realize that I forgot to mention another reason my mother distrusted my father's birth certificate date of September 17.

My father and I were both born in Georgia. I was born May 19, 1950. When it was time for me to start school in 1956, my parents had to produce a birth certificate proving I had been born prior to September 4, 1950. First-graders had to have turned six by Labor Day of the year they entered, because school started the next day. My brother, incidentally, who was born October 1, had to wait until he was almost seven to start school.

When they applied to the State of Georgia for my birth certificate, it turned out that there was no record of my birth. The doctor who had delivered me, however, and the assisting nurse were still alive. They signed affidavits which enabled the state to issue a Delayed Birth Certificate.

The certificate arrived, showing the date of birth as May 19, 1950. I was allowed to begin school.

Only later did I notice that the birth certificate had two places where the date of birth was entered. The main entry was correct, but in the other place the date was given as September 1, 1956.

Had this been correct, I would have begun school when I was less than a week old.

What we imagine happened was that the clerk typing the form had inadvertently entered the date she was filling it out. I used to joke about it, but people warned me that when Social Security time came around, I might not find it so funny.

At any rate, years later when I applied for my first passport, the State of Georgia corrected the error and my birth record is now clear -- should I ever run for president and the question arise.

So my mother did not have a lot of confidence in the records of the glorious State of Georgia. And for a few brief years, I was five and a half years younger than all my classmates.