Dr. Seuss and I share a birthday. Growing up, that was uber cool (it was the 90s, so “uber” was still an awesome word, thank you very much). Every year in elementary school, I would head off for the day, knowing full well that we would start the morning with one of my favorite movies: “The Lorax” (the original… I still haven’t seen the remake).

Any WHY would we watch my favorite movie? Well, obviously because it was my birthday!

Why else would everyone take a day off from normal school work and celebrate by watching awesome cartoons all day long?

In second grade, one of the teachers did something pretty fun: she got a gallon of mint chocolate chip ice cream, and some Nilla wafers. Each child received a scoop of ice cream, and a Nilla wafer was pressed into the center. When put together correctly, the concoction looked just green eggs (with the Nilla wafer playing the part of the yoke)!

I thought this was pretty awesome, but my favorite ice cream was chocolate, not mint chocolate chip, and my favorite Dr. Seuss cartoon was “The Lorax,” not “Green Eggs and Ham.”

So I raised my hand. “Aren’t we going to watch The Lorax?”

“No,” the teacher responded. “I’m pretty sure the school played that one last year.”

“Yes,” I responded, “but it’s my favorite.”

The teacher looked at me, dumbfounded, so I continued, “And it is MY birthday…”

I raised quite a stink. Needless to say, I got pulled out of the movie time classroom and got talked to about how the whole school was celebrating Dr. Seuss’s birthday, not mine, and how I would have time in my class to celebrate my birthday but that the movie was not for me.

When I was finally allowed back to my seat, my green egg had melted and the Nilla wafer was soggy.

I blamed Dr. Seuss for many years. So the effect he had on me as a child was different than most. He taught me one of my first lessons in frustration and misunderstanding. There is a little dark spot in my soul thanks to him.

So what can I say, I owe the man.

Happy birthday, Dr. Seuss. Maybe I need to find that old Lorax movie and watch it while chowing down on green mint chocolate chip ice cream and Nilla wafers.