It’s David Cassidy’s birthday.
If the man had played his cards right, I would have been making him a lenten chocolate cake[1] today to share with our fourteen musically gifted and yet unpretentious children. But his loss is my gain. Since David Cassidy forgot to propose, I was available when my husband came into my life. So it worked out.
How bad a crush did I have on him? I learned the harmony to his songs, so I could step in for his back-up singers at the last minute.
I wrote not one but two love songs to him, both of which my younger brother later taught to my kids.
Through no choice of my own, he and I at one point had the same haircut. My mother’s hairdresser called it a “pixie cut” and said it would make me look like Shirley Jones. It made me look like David Cassidy. It was a female mullet.
We also had almost matching purple pantsuits with a vest. I think both of our mothers bought those for us.
I did not know that tacos existed until David Cassidy talked about going to the taco stand on “The Partridge Family.” I still didn’t know what this exotic food was for another ten years.
At his sold-out 1973 concert in Boston, I swear that he looked directly at me at one point when he sang. But so did everyone else there.
I am glad that he made it to be sixty-six today — so many child stars did not — and I hope he has a long, happy and musical life. Even if he did blow his chance to convert and propose.
I even had a godfather picked out for him.
[1] It is still Lent for Orthodox Christians, when we eat vegan. Lenten chocolate cake recipe to follow.