I have this very clear memory of my 2nd birthday. My dad had just taken a job for the U.S Forest Service in a small island town in Alaska. We moved up there from Oregon shortly before my birthday and had been put up in a hotel until we could find a place to live. Since mom couldn't bake a birthday cake, she went to the only grocery store at the time and bought a packet of Hostess cupcakes and some birthday candles. I remember her putting those two cupcakes in front of me, each one with a single candle in it, and I was so excited to get TWO cupcakes. Only, once I blew out the candles, I was only allowed to eat one of them. I was not happy about that, but now I just think about how determined mom was to give me a birthday no matter what.