KATHERINE NEVILLE'S
4/4 Newsletter
April 4, 2026
Bubbly Birthday
Just before my twenty-first birthday, my older best friend had inherited a large sum of money. He asked me what I would like for my birthday. (Almost all my best friends have been boys!) I could choose from a trip to Europe, a new car, a helicopter ski trip to the Bugaboos, and a bunch of other options. I thought about it for a while and discussed various opportunities with my circle of friends. But in the end I realized that in my future life, I would be able to do any of these things on my own. So, I tried to imagine something so unusual, that the opportunity might never occur again.
At last, I told my friend that I wanted my birthday gift to be a bath in champagne! Neither of us had a very glamorous bathtub in our student quarters. So he booked us a beautiful suite in an elegant Colorado hotel and he had several cases of champagne delivered (and one magnum of Dom Pérignon.)
We soon discovered, unfortunately, that champagne, even at room temperature, is very cold, and makes your skin very itchy. However, it was an experience I have never forgotten. And over the years I have received a lot of storytelling mileage from this adventure!
When I first arrived in Manhattan, a few years later, to work for IBM, I was often invited to a private dinner at an exclusive New York club. When my host would ask, Do you remember what you did to celebrate your twenty-first birthday? I would say: I had a bath in champagne! This never failed to impress!
Ever since that experience, I’ve tried each year to do something memorable or fascinating to mark my birthday. See some Past Birthday examples below.*
Cherry Blossom Easter
This year, my birthday falls on Easter Weekend, at the height of Cherry Blossom Festival. Since my books, The Eight and The Fire, both open during the season of Cherry blossoms (in the Pyrenees and in Washington, DC) – and since I live in a Japanese House with magical Cherry trees – I’ll soon be celebrating in another surprising and magical way! Keep dreaming…
