Happy BIrthday, Karoun!

Karoun offers the photographer a bite of apple freshly picked from Grandpa Peter's apple tree!                 Happy Birthday, Karoun!

Following is the tale of one of Karoun's most memorable birthday celebrations as told by her sister, Lorig.

"Karoun was flying into BWI on her birthday and asked us to pick her up.  Gathering a few friends,  a half sheet cake, balloons, and some streamers, we headed to the airport early.  This was back before 9/11, so one could go through security to the gate without a ticket and with a sheet cake.  We arrived at the gate and started decorating the waiting area, birthday party style.  The plane was connecting to another destination, so there were several people with us in the waiting area, including a karate team in their late teens to early 20's.  We announced our plans to the gathered strangers (strangers no longer) and started teaching everyone in the arrival area how to say Karoun's name, so they would pronounce it correctly when they sang "Happy Birthday" to her.  

(During this time, we, the siblings, were into pushing each others' faces into  birthday cakes.  We realized that we would not be able to do that and still serve  pieces of cake to the crowds that had gathered, so we went off to get a Cinnabun to shove in her face instead.)

As we continued our preparations, people walking by stopped to see what the excitement was about.  Nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd, and eventually we had nearly 150 people standing around.  I think they assumed there was a celebrity on the flight, (which, as far as I'm concerned, there was.) 

The plane finally landed and as people came off, they stuck around to see what the big deal was.  We lit the candles. Karoun was the last to come off the plane.  As she did, she saw me standing there with the cake and the nearly 200 people -- she started to turn back around to run away.  But there was nowhere to go.  200 people sang happy birthday to her and I shoved the Cinnabun in her face.  Everyone got a piece of birthday cake, and neither I, nor Karoun, nor (I doubt) any of the other folks present have ever forgotten that day many years ago, March 22, Karoun's birthday!"