A Big 3-0 & 6-0 Birthday Bash
Ilene and her daughter, Jana, celebrating their birthdays!
July 24, 2012
by Ilene Briscoe
On my birthday 30 years ago, birthdays changed forever. I lay in the hospital cradling a true gift, my daughter Jana, who had arrived unexpectedly while I was supposed to be attending my surprise birthday dinner.
Jana came quickly without contractions. Just a strange feeling to stop by the emergency room and check on my pregnancy. Six minutes later my husband at the time was calling the restaurant to tell our guests to stop hiding behind the furniture and celebrate without us .As I looked at Jana I thought “What could top you for a wonderful birthday surprise?”
Jana and I have tried to create special birthdays for each other ever since. Among the many, I remember doing my best to surprise her on her Sweet 16, but she found the guest list ahead of time. She thrilled me on my 50th by sneaking her older brother, Brett, to town for the celebrations.
This year, we planned to spend the big day, March 6th– my 60th and Jana’s 30th– together, onboard a Crown Princess cruise through the Caribbean. Enlisting my sister, Robbi, who works for Princess Cruises, we commandeered 30 additional family members to join us.
Our family absolutely loves to get together. We made turquoise t-shirts and tote bags, playing off the symmetry of our ages and birth date. Furthermore, the special gear made it easier to spot our group on board.
Cruise ships are an absolutely great place to celebrate a big birthday. Our group ranged in age from 1 to 71, not a one-destination-fits-all gathering. Between the multitude of excursions, ports of call and on-board activities, everyone could plan the kind of vacation they wanted while still having plenty of family time. We could go our separate ways during the day, but always got together in the evening for dinner.
Jana and I spent plenty of time together. On our big day, a group of us swam with the dolphins during an excursion in Honduras, something Jana had always wanted to do.
That night, we arranged a pre-dinner cocktail hour at Skywalker’s Nightclub. A talented cousin had put together a video of Jana and me through the ages which played on all the nightclub’s monitors.
I told our guests the story I tell Jana every year, of how special she is to me, and her sudden arrival in my life. I also told our guests of another mother/daughter birthday duo. My own mother was also born on her mother’s birthday.
If you are wondering about the surprise element of this birthday cruise, well I’d planned a good one! Richard, my love of 13 years, and I decided that having so much family in one place provided an irresistible opportunity to finally get married. We, along with my sister, Robbi, and the Princess wedding maestros, secretly planned a beautiful ceremony and reception for Day 2 of the cruise. We only revealed the surprise after Crown Princess set sail from Fort Lauderdale, inviting our combined six children to our cabin for a drink to toast our one-day engagement.
A wedding of my dreams, followed by a birthday celebration for all times, then, as everyone disembarked, another 7-day honeymoon cruise for Richard and me. While this joy was expected, unlike Jana’s express delivery, it will remain just as memorable.
Ilene lives in Overland Park, Kansas and she’s enjoyed nine cruises with Princess.
Ilene,
Thank you for sharing your mother/daughter birthday bash (and wedding!) story. We’re so happy to have been able to share in the fun of your unique dual birthday!
i too share a birthday with my daughter. she was born on my 23rd birthday. now she is 45 and i am 68. august 14th we will have another day. My dr. said he would get a cake for me when i gave birth to her. She was born on 8-14-66, which is August 14th and also weighed 8 lbs and 14 ounces!………. I was 4 days earlier than being born on my mothers birthday too. Delores Westfall, Godfrey IL
I read all your tstory and every thing is fantastik!!! Be happy!
WHAT A WONDERFUL STORY! I ENJOYED READING THIS. WHAT COULD BE MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN THE LOVE BETWEEN MOTHER AND DAUGHTER. THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR MEMORIES WITH US AND MAY GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR LOVELY FAMILIES.
touching story. I loved it. My daughter also shares my birthday (unplanned too). It is Jan. 12. She was due Jan. 16.
Not much to do in January. It is cold everywhere and where we live there are usually ice storms.
Good luck to you all.
My Mom and I shared our birthdays for 57 years until she passed away this year. Sharing birthdays was a very special part of our relationship and it will bond us forever. Mom always said you were the best give I ever got. Truth be told she was the best gift I ever got. Be grateful you are able to enjoy taking this beautiful cruise together…wishing you many more birthdays and cruises to share!!!
Ah but don’t forget that Princess Cruises depart from Sydney Australia for Pacific and New Zealand cruises over that time, and it is summer down here. You’ll love it.
This was a really lovely story. enjoyed reading it and wish you and your daughter lots more birthdays to celebrate together.Congratulations on your wedding also.was such a pleasure to read something so joyful.
What a wonderful story. Almost cried, it’s so good that your and your daughter have a special relationship. Congrats on your marriage what a surprise to your family, I love when someone can pull of a surprise. May you have many many years of happines and good health both you and your husband and for your daughter.
This is such a great idea! My daughter & I will celebrate our 50th & 30th Birthday in the same year. I think this would be a great way to celebrate!!
What a great celebration Ilene! So glad everyone was there for those special days to make wonderful memories. We think cruises are the best vacations ever and so much fun for all ages. Your sister has us totally addicted….
Thanks for sharing such a special time.
Thank god they found the right music during the wedding procession or that entire family would still be waiting on our ship! Our casino manager hopes they return soon since it’s been quite quiet since they departed. Beautiful family. Lots of very fun people! Good luck to all and see you in 2014!
Ilene, I cried…. What a fabulous story. Congratulations on your big birthday and Jana’s half big birthday but most of all your wedding.
I love cruising but cannot get my family to go again after a bad cruise experience and can understand why this was so special to you all.
Here’s to many more birthdays, anniversaries and cruises for the future xxx
What a great story! Thank you for sharing it with us,
Hi Ilene, I have known you and Jana for so long and didn’t realize that you guys share a birthday. The cruise sounds wonderful. I agree it is the easiest way to travel with a large group of diverse ages. We have done two with family and loved them both.
Great story! I’m so glad Princess was able to help make all these milestones so memorable!
What a great story. I know the feeling of sharing your birthday with your daughter because I also was blessed with a daughter on my birthday, but also doubly blessed that my husband of 46 years shares our birthday also on July 15.
How great was that!! I want to be a Spector. Is it too late?
What a wonderful story and there is nothing like sharing time with family, and no better way than on a cruise. My mother have cruised together for 30 years and loved every minute of it. May you have a happy life for another 60.
WHAT A LOVELY STORY! I am gonna be celebrating my 50th birthday with my mother on the maiden voyage of the new Royal next year! My best friend since 6th grade, who turns 50 in May, and her mother are going with us! I turn 50 on June 19–we set sale from Southhampton on June 16, 2013! I can’t wait to see the new ship! I love Princess!
Sorry, I did not see the ad for TA’s. This was a great story and should not be deleted.
Congratulation for Mother & Daughter birthdays and surprising we had been staying at the same hotel at Ft Launderdale a night before the cruise and all your beautiful T shirts are the ones that remind us of all your lovely friendly families that we meet before our cruise .
Many many happy birthdays to come .
Inspirational. I use to cruise with my mom before she passed away in 2004, so I truly appreciate the mother/daughter bond you share. We had many trips on Princess and Carnival all over the worle and I encourage you and your daughter and extended families to do as many as you possibly can. The memories are everlasting and time is precious and too short.
Beautiful story. Happy Birthday to both you and your daughter and congratulations to you and your new husband. I am hoping I can have a 50th wedding anniversary onboard a Princess Ship.
My husband and I had a 50th wedding anniversary on a cruise (Carnival). We would have been married 53 years this past year had he not passed away. Wonderful man, wonderful marriage and it was our first cruise. I’m planning a cruise to Alaska on Royal Carribbean next year. Wish he were going with me.
I loved the idea of the surprise wedding. What a great plan and place to have a wedding. Congrats.
What a wonderful story,,love to hear from families that enjoy each others company.We also have that special bond.We sailed this past Jan.my daughter and her partner of 10 yrs.and my best friend(husband) of 5 yrs.my daughter Leah 45 th birthday and my 65 th birthday, sailing was the best treat for all of us.May you have many more happy occasions on board the Princess line.
Great story! As if the birthday bash was not big enough. A wedding-wow! Princess cruises are great. What a great way to celebrate special times. If the seas are good-there is nothing better. I have been on Princess cruises and have called them “wonderful and then some”. May you always have happy times together.
WOW! How wonderful! My birthday is also March 6, and while my daughter wasn’t born on my birthday, she was born on November 6! And now a beautiful Granddaughter born 1 week after my birthday on March 13!
I just returned from a cruise to Alaska and it was out of this world! Absolutely beautiful! I only wish my daughter could have been with me! Princess cruises are the absolute best; and one day, my daughter and I will go on one together.
It’s great that you were able to celebrate this event on your cruise. My wife and I recently took a Princess cruse to celebrate our 40th anniversary. Our travel agent notified Princess and both of us notified Princess through our Cruise Personalizers on the website. However, nothing was done to recognize this special occasion. We were disappointed, but had a good time anyway.
My Mom & I ‘shared our birthday’… when I was born on 10/07/1945! Unnexpectedly, I arrived 5-weeks early and weighed 4lbs.3 ozs.; this was surprise #2. The 1st surprise was getting ‘pregnant’ with me, after she & my Dad were married for 6-years, & were told by her Dr. they had a ‘very-slim chance’ to have any children! To top that, she found out she was ‘expecting’ ..during the fifth-month; only knowing she would have a baby for three months! We had an ‘instant-bond’ of mother & daughter, especially since we both survived; she remained in the hospital for two-months, & I was taken home by my Dad at 6-weeks-old. We ‘celebrated our birthdays together’..for 51 years, before her ‘passing’ in 1996. I ‘honor’ her for ‘sharing’ her birthday with me, for always making ‘my day’ more special than hers. I “thank-you”, Mom, for your ‘gift of life and love…for you are the ‘special-one’! “God Bless” all mothers & daughters–who share their ‘special day of life’…together
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Loved the story!
My 2 daughters and I share March birthdays and it’s my dream to cruise with them someday. It sounds like your whole family had a great time and your surprise wedding was the highlight of the cruise! Wishing you much happiness!
Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful story …
I’ve long lost my dear Mother and miss her just terribly. Nothing quite as special as a Mother/Daughter relationship. Congradulations all around and may you continue to build such wonderful lifetime memories with each other!
Congratulations, Ilene and Jana! A lovely experience and story, alltogether! I share (almost) a birthday with you, Ilene. I think it’s so amazing that my 60th was March the 7th,and I was on Emerald Princess, cruising to the Southern Caribbean! Don’t have any children, though, but I travelled with a good friend of mine from Switzerland, and she had noticed that it was also the 30th “anniversary” of our friendship!
My son and I share our Bday also. He was born on my 30th Bday, and we have just celebrated my 60th and his 30th on the Sapphire Princess in Alaska. What a great way to celebrate life! Happy Happy to all the July Bdays.
Hi Guys,
What a cool story!! I work as the manager for fleet safety and this story popped up on our company internal email. Thank you guys for traveling with us and for sharing the story. From Sunny LA (Princess Corp. Office)
CIAO
Okay, so I did cry! This story just made me realize the importance of Mother/Daughter relationshps and the group trip I am going to be planning with Princess for 2013. It is for Mother’s and Daughter’s and will be hosted by my Daughter (30) & I (56). She is our only child and was not born on my birthday, but she is my life! My granddaugher (17 mths.) won’t be joining us but will as she gets older. We will include non-traditional Mother/Daughter relationshps, be it Auntie/Niece, Grandmother/Granddaughter, God Mother/God Daughter, etc.
Ilene and Jana – what a lovely story! And a wedding!!!!! Makes me wonder if ….. well it’s my 80th in two years!!!!! We took our four daughters on two cruises 1973 and l975. We’ve been on lots since – celebrated our Golden Wedding on Dawn Princess a couple of years ago.
I wonder if I could organise our Nineteen -four daughters, four husbands and nine grandchildren. Certainly something to think about. Thank you for sharing your story.
Your story was both touching & moving as well as so special! Celebrating life & all it’s blessings is so important. As you know, life is so short & we must squeeze it like a lemon. May your lives continue to be enjoyed to the fullest! Leslie Gail Metzger
What a lovely story…..thank you for sharing……..
Beautiful story – My husband was born on his mother’s 17th birthday which was also Father’s Day and the telegram said “baby is 7# 4 oz – 20″ Mother and Baby doing fine. The father never found out until he returned at the end of WW II to find out he had a Jr (literally, as he was named after his father). I always thought that was a great present; nothing like that in my family except my mom, me and my son are all exactly 22 years apart. Enjoy your cruises, I always enjoy mine.
My mother and I are going on a princess cruise next year to celebrate my 40th and her 60th birthday. Although we aren’t born on the same day we thought it a a great idea to celebrate both our milestones together.
My sister is coming over from the uk, to celebrate my 80th birthday Dec 3 on a cruise to N.Z We celebrated her 80th when she came over 3yrs ago on the same ship