WHEN MY SISTER WAS PREGNANT, my family had a betting pool to predict the birth date of her daughter. I threw in for 8-16. I won, natch. I mathematically deduced the date of my niece’s birth because eight and 16 are multiples, and I like that.

I was born on 7/14, my son Colin on 3/6, and my daughter Annabelle on 4/4. We’re all multiples, and being born on a multiple has been scientifically linked to awesomeness. Plus, Andy and I were married on 6/24 — and I fell in love with Andy before my subsequent love affair with multiples. Even Rocky, our dog, was born on 7/17/07. The month and year are multiples — and all of the numbers are prime, making him rather remarkable.

Andy is the family exception to the multiple rule. He was born on 9/2. No multiples there. Not a run of prime numbers either. It’s a perfectly boring birth date.

I want to help him, so I’ve officially changed his birthday to 9/3. Andy is rebelling against this, though. He’s such a traditionalist. Won’t he be surprised when there is no cake or presents on the 2nd.

Andy argues that his birthday is significant because it always falls during Labor Day weekend. That is cool, but his actual birthday is not an official holiday — unlike mine, which is Bastille Day. I know; it’s a French holiday, and the French have fallen out of favor right now. It’s a Freedom Birthday.

Holiday birthdays also run in our family because my sister’s birthday is May Day. Actually, that’s the end of the list of family holiday birthdays. But her birthday is 5/1, a multiple. If multiple birthdays make you awesome, and holiday birthdays make you stellar, then a holiday multiple birthday is really the crème de la crème. Don’t miss that I’m pretending to talk about my sister right now while really talking about myself.

Andy makes a good point that another mark of a cool birthday is that you never have to work on it because it’s a holiday your profession recognizes. As a business owner, I never have to work my birthday if I don’t want to. Except I like earning money, so I usually work it.

I have a friend whose birthday is Valentine’s Day, but she complains that people like to spend that day with their partners, not celebrating a friend’s birthday. I know another woman whose birthday is the Fourth of July. She dislikes this because people are often out of town or with their families on her special day. Yet another friend has a Christmas birthday. She claims to love this; no one believes her. The promise land for holiday birthdays are really the holidays that no one celebrates, like May Day, Labor Day, or, ahem, Freedom Day.

People talk a lot about giving their kids a good start in life by teaching them to read early or saving for their college education, when really the secret to a happy life is so simple. Just give kids a multiple, holiday-that-no-one-celebrates birth date. It’s the best thing my parents ever did for me. That and teaching me to read early and saving for my college education.

Kirstin Odegaard runs the Benicia Tutoring Center. Read and comment on her writings at www.kodegaard.com.

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