What Would You Wish For? [PHIL-OSOPHY]

If your birthday wish really could come true, what would you wish for?

Odds that a father and his daughter share the same birthday are 1-in-365. Well, I'm like the cat that got the cream, and on December 22, the day I turned 30, my life was transfigured when Celeste gave birth to a Christmas angel.

Imagine, receiving as a gift, your firstborn and on your birthday! The icing on that cake, or now it is cakes, was that Andrea Noel was born to the very minute I came into the world in 1949.

Like it happened an hour ago, I remember being elbowed out of the way when Nurse Ratchet commanded me to step aside so she could come closer to Celeste's perspiring face to roar "Push, come on and push harder."

Not only did my amazing, wonderworking wife manage to bear our first child on the precise minute, but something dreamlike occurred as the extraordinary nurses held up Andrea for the first time for Celeste to see from her eye view. I caught sight, just for a brief moment, but long enough to realize it, that an image of myself as an infant transferred to over her beautiful face. That vision still moves me 40 years later.

As the years passed quickly, I discovered that we shared more than just the same day, the same hour and the same minute of birth. Andrea and I unconsciously know what's in each other's head, heart and mind. I believe it's an inner sense of divination that is unexplainable, and yet, the greatest birthday wish one could ever realize if birthday wishes come true.

Beyond words, thank you Celeste and Happy Birthday, Andrea Noel.

Phil Paleologos is the host of The Phil Paleologos Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Contact him at phil@wbsm.com and follow him on Twitter @PhilPaleologos. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.