Dear Wendy,
Happy Birthday! You have a very special gift coming this year!
I want to tell you more about that gift but first here is what you missed over the last half century. At 2:51 P.M. on Friday December 18, 1970, you graced the world with your presence. You were born at Northside Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia to Eva and Charles Lipman. They had big dreams for you but unfortunately life had other plans. Fifteen days after your birth, your journey ended due to being born with a horrible genetic disease known as cystic fibrosis (CF). There was only one picture taken of you, you never left the hospital and there was not enough time to even give you a Hebrew name which is custom in the Jewish religion.
I too was born to Eva and Charles just 33 months later. Thanks to your diagnosis, doctors knew that there was a 25 percent chance that I would have the disease as well. When they detected that I had meconium ileus (blockage of the intestine), they knew that I too would be in a battle against the leading genetic killer in the United States.
I didn’t know anything about you growing up except that you were a few years older than me and that you died very suddenly. I didn’t ask a lot of questions, but I could sense that as the climate grew colder in Georgia that Mom became a different person. She transformed from an upbeat person to someone who was dealing with extreme sadness. What I didn’t realize was that she was dealing with grief every year around your birthday.
The best day every year for me was my birthday because Mom always made it special whether she asked my Aunt Susie to make me a Superman cake, hired magicians to dazzle me and my friends or rented horses for all of us to ride in our backyard. The only constant was getting a big hug every year and hearing how I will always be her 10-pound, 10-ounce baby boy. As I grew older, I still got that big embrace and I was still guilted into knowing how difficult it was to give birth to me because I was the largest baby at Northside Hospital when I was born.
I didn’t realize that every year she celebrated your birthday too. The celebration was quite different. She would visit your grave and bring you a stuffed animal. It wasn’t until I was 25 that I got up the nerve to ask her how you lost your life. I didn’t know that you had cystic fibrosis too. She said that the family kept it a secret from me because they didn’t want me to be scared. I now have two children of my own and have learned to appreciate the reason that they kept this information confidential.
Today would have been your 50th birthday, but you won’t be getting a stuffed animal from Mom this year. In late August, she was hospitalized and spent a considerable amount of time including my birthday in the hospital until finally being diagnosed with lymphoma.
She fought a difficult battle against cancer and lost her life on November 18th. They say the number 18 means life in the Jewish religion. How fitting that you were born on the 18th and Mom died on the 18th. I am going to miss spending birthdays with her. I am really missing those hugs.
In your memory, we started Wish for Wendy and have raised $4.5 million for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation over the last twenty years. In Mom’s memory just over the past month, we have raised another $130,000 as we close in on our goal of $150,000. We could not do our charity tournament this year due to a pandemic and Mom’s illness, but we are still raising money for cystic fibrosis because there is no time like the present to find a cure for a disease that has taken so many people including yourself. Your memory has led to so many breakthroughs in the world of cystic fibrosis. Mom's memory along with yours will someday lead us to a cure.
In a year in which we have incurred so much heartache in our family, I am trying to find the silver lining. Perhaps it is that for the first time in half a century that you will be spending your birthday with the most amazing person that I have ever known. I monopolized her for 47 years and I always knew that one day I would have to give her up. I just thought I had more time. I'm hoping this is the first of many in which you both can spend time together.
I just wanted to let you know that you are getting the greatest gift that one could ever ask for. Please don’t take that amazing hug for granted like I did for 47 years.
Until we meet again.
Your brother,
Andy
Live your dreams and love your life.
Are you looking for the best way to wish someone a happy 50th birthday? Well, we’ve got you covered. Here is a list of the best 50th birthday wishes for everyone in your life. Our list includes funny happy 50th birthday wishes, short happy birthday wishes for 50th, turning 50 birthday wishes for her, turning 50 birthday wishes for him, happy 50th birthday messages, birthday greetings for 50th and messages for 50th birthday card.
Whether it's for a friend or family member these wishes can help, especially if you're at loss for words.
Jump ahead to the category you like best or scroll through to find the best wish for a 50th birthday or 50th birthday message.
• 50th Birthday Wishes
• Funny Happy 50th Birthday Wishes
• Happy 50th Birthday Wishes for Friends
• Short Happy Birthday Wishes for 50th
• Turning 50 Birthday Wishes for Her
• Turning 50 Happy Birthday Wishes for Him
• Happy 50th Birthday Messages
• 50th Birthday Greetings
• Messages for 50th Birthday Card
• Pun-ny and Funny 50th Birthday Card Messages
• 50th Birthday Quotes
• 50th Birthday Cake Quotes
• 50th Birthday Captions
50th Birthday Wishes
Here are some of our favorite 50th birthday wishes.
• May you wish on every single candle, and may all 50 of them come true for you.
• Without you, my life wouldn’t be as complete. Thanks for simply being you, and I wish you nothing but the best as you hit the five-decade mark.
• Here’s to 50 years of being the best you…and an incredible 50 more!
• The secret to staying young is make-up… make up an age, then stick with it!
• If you were a dog, you would be around 213 years old today. So, don’t feel so bad about your age. At least you’re aging like a human, right? Happy 50th!
• You're older today than yesterday but younger than tomorrow, wishing you a happy 50th birthday!
• You have been the same awesome person for five decades. Here’s wishing us five more!
• They say too much of everything is bad, but I beg to differ with that statement since too much of you, my sweet friend, is heavenly. Have a lovely 50th birthday.
• Happy birthday! You’re halfway to the end of the end! In the meantime, put your feet up and enjoy the rewards from all the hard work you put in during your 20s, 30s and 40s. Congrats!
• Happy birthday! I can’t wait to see what you do with your next 50 years.
• Happy 50th birthday to a true troublemaker. Don’t you dare get old on me!
• Have a great 50th birthday! Too young to die and too old to Rock n Roll!
• Fired up! Happy Birthday!
• I’ll bet you were hoping no one would notice you were turning 50. Well, no such luck! Happy birthday!
• Happy 50th birthday to someone who’s awesome at any age.
• Don’t think of it as your 50th birthday. Think of it as the 30th anniversary of your 20th birthday.
• Happy 50th birthday! Oh, and if you wake up feeling like crap tomorrow, it’s not a hangover – that’s just what it’s like being old.
• Welcome to 50, an age when you’re still young at heart, but other body parts are starting to falter.
• You know, they say that age is really all in the mind. The key is to prevent it from trickling down into your body. Happy birthday!
Funny Happy 50th Birthday Wishes
When it comes to happy 50th birthday wishes, funny ones are often the best. You might also like our list of Funny Birthday Wishes.
• Your 40’s are behind you now, which means that you’ve probably got your midlife crisis out of your system! You can relax now. Happy Birthday!
• It’s your 50th birthday? Not too late to get up to some mischief!
• You look good for 50. Scratch that, you look good, period. Happy birthday!
• Every birthday of yours is a reminder for me that I’m not the oldest person here! Happy 50th birthday!
• If you can still blow up all your birthday balloons without passing out, then you earn the right to still feel "young" at 50. Happy 50th birthday.
• You almost have as much grey hair as me! Happy 50th birthday!
• They say 50 is the new 40. However, it should be noted that they often lie. Happy Birthday!
• I hope you already saved enough money for retirement because it’s time that we spend a good chunk of it today! Happy 50th birthday!
• Happy birthday! And thank you so much for turning 50 before me!
• You might be prehistoric, but at least you’re not extinct! Happy 50th birthday!
• You’re not old! …oh, no wait, actually you are, sorry about that.
• It’s OK to light the 50 candles on your birthday cake now; I’ve already alerted the fire department.
• You’ve reached that golden age where your train of thought usually leaves the station without you. Happy 50th!
• Don’t grow up… It’s a trap! Oh, you did! Happy birthday, in that case!
• Middle age… when "happy hour" is a nap! Happy 50th!
• You’re older today than yesterday but younger than tomorrow, happy 50th birthday!
• 50 isn’t old if you’re a tree. Happy birthday.
• At your age, people expect you to be calm, dignified and sober… Disappoint them. Happy Birthday!
• Cheers on your birthday. One step closer to adult underpants.
• Just wanted to be the first one to wish you happy birthday so I can feel superior to your other well-wishers. So, happy 50th birthday!
• With 50 years comes wisdom…and wrinkles.
• Turning 50 is a piece of cake and a few extra candles.
• Hope you have a blast on your 50th birthday! Just don’t overdo it – at your age, partying too much can be dangerous.
• Don’t let aging get you down… it’s too hard to get back up again! Happy birthday, 50-year-old!
• Happy 50th birthday! And remember: You’re never too old to act like an idiot.
• If your candles cost more than your cake, then definitely you are getting older.
Happy 50th Birthday Wishes for Friends
• If you’re the new face of 50, then it’s going to be an amazing year. Happy Birthday, dear friend!
• 50 cheers to 50 great years. Now, let the real party begin my Friend!
• My friend, You have so much to be proud of at 50. Congrats and enjoy!
• We’ll be friends ’til we’re old and senile… and then we’ll be new friends!
• Friend, I watched you create a great life with a beautiful family. Congratulations on 50 amazing years!
• To my best friend, You don’t look a day over fabulous! Happy 50th birthday
• Fifty never looked so good as it does on my best friend!
• Five decades of being your wonderful self. Happy birthday, buddy!
• Happy 50th, bud! How does it feel to be the world’s oldest kid?
• You’ve now got half a century of learned knowledge and wisdom! That would be great… if you could remember any of it.
• I would make a joke about how you’re getting really old, but I didn’t want to hurt your feelings. Then again, you probably won’t remember any of it since you’re getting so old. Happy 50th bday!
• Best wishes on your 50th birthday. I’m so proud to have you as a friend… even if you are old.
• You look incredible for 50! Wishing you the happiest of birthdays, my friend.
• Happy birthday to my best friend! Ready for another trip around the sun with you.
• Hey, Friend! You’re the youngest 50-year-old I know!
• 50-years-young and at the top of your game. Can’t nobody tell you nothing!
• Happy 50th Birthday to one of my most special friends!
• 50 is only a number when you’re forever young. And you, my friend, have such a youthful spirit.
• Wishing the happiest of birthdays to the kindest friend I know. I hope you have a fantastic 50th birthday today.
• Friend – Congratulations on your 50th birthday! What a prime opportunity to stop and reflect on how much you have achieved in so little time. You are an inspiration to all of us. May your future be bright and full of wonders.
• Sure, everyone remembers you on your birthday. But a true friend remembers you on the days after too!
• Wishing you the very best on your 50th birthday. Enjoy the attention on your special day, you deserve it my wonderful friend.
• Though we couldn’t be with you today, we’re raising our glass and wishing you the happiest of 50th birthdays! I hope you have a wonderful day celebrating with family and friends.
• The older we get, the brighter our birthday cake becomes. See? It’s all filled with burning candles. Have fun blowing it all! Happy 50th!
• Happy 50th birthday! I'm so grateful for your friendship and all the fun we've shared over the years. Here's to many, many more!
Short Happy Birthday Wishes for 50th
Check out these short happy birthday wishes for a 50th .
• Happy birthday. It took you 50 years to look this good!
• Congratulations on five decades of sheer awesomeness!
• Wishing you a fun-filled, fancy fifth on this fabulous day!
• Fifty is the new awesome. Happy birthday!
• Hope your 50th year is your favorite year so far!
• Happy 50th birthday, sweetie! If we gotta grow old, let’s do it together!
• Sincerely wishing you life’s finest things at 50.
• 50?! YOU?! I demand a recount! Happy birthday!
• Forever be beautiful, inside and out. Happy 50th birthday.
• The first 50 years of childhood are always the hardest.
• Now you’re as sexy as two 25-year-olds. Happy 50th birthday!
• Happy birthday!! You only look as old as the last selfie you took.
• I’m so proud to have you as a friend… even if you are old.
• Congratulations on being born a really long time ago.
• I hate to remind you of your old age, but… you’re fifty! Happy birthday!
• You’re like a fine wine, you keep getting better with age.
• With age comes patience. Thanks for waiting for my belated birthday wish.
• If gray hair is a sign of wisdom, then you’re a genius! Here comes the 50th birthday!
• 50 is fun, fabulous, and absolutely fantastic. It’s your time in the sun.
• Every year of life is a gift, even 50.
• Life is a book and your fifties are the chapters when it all starts making sense.
Turning 50 Birthday Wishes for Her
You might like these turning 50 birthday wishes for her. The birthday girl will love to receive one of these messages.
• Happy birthday to my beautiful wife, who is way too sexy to be 50 years old.
• Happy 50th birthday to the prettiest and most loving woman I know. Today being your special day, my wish for you is that all your dreams come to pass. Have a happy birthday filled with sweet surprises, my friend.
• Best wishes to the most magnificent woman in my life. I hope this message brings that stunning smile to your face.
• Now that you are an old 50-year-old, you now only have 10 years before I call you an old 60-year-old. Happy Birthday!
• Congratulations on reaching this incredible journey to 50. Wishing you many good things for the years ahead.
• Sending love to my favorite person on her special day. Happy 50th!
• Happy 50th birthday to the most remarkable and fun woman I know.
• Time is precious, so I’ll keep this short: Happy 50th birthday to the coolest woman I know!
• Babe, as you add another year and grow wiser today, I wish you long life, good health and may your joy be full. Happy 50th birthday to you.
• No woman is as accomplished, caring, selfless, and warm-hearted as you. On this special day, I hope you feel half of what you send out to the world every day.
• On this lovely day, I wish you have a fabulous 50th birthday and I pray that all you wish for come true. Happy birthday!
• It’s yet another beautiful day to celebrate a special woman. I wish you all the best this new year will bring, long life and prosperity. Happy 50th birthday to you
Turning 50 Happy Birthday Wishes for Him
Check out these turning 50 happy birthday wishes for him.
• You’ve always been a good-looking dude. Now you’re a good-looking older dude. Happy 50th birthday!
• Happy 50th birthday! You are officially a Distinguished Gentleman.
• I believe you forgot my birthday present last year, so now I’m returning the favor. Happy 50th, my dearest!
• Happy 50th birthday to my amazing husband! I’m still head over heels for you, and I always will be.
• Handsome and youthful as ever. Happy 50th birthday!
• Best wishes on your 50th birthday – a great milestone for a true gentleman!
• Your first 50 years on earth have been filled with wonder, so I can't wait to see what you have planned for the next 50. Happy Birthday!
• Happy Birthday! May the next half-century of your life be as wonderful as the first half.
• Wishing you all the best on your 50th birthday! You’re one of the most loving, generous, and kind-hearted people I know and I feel so lucky to be married to you.
• Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that people who have the most live the longest! Happy 50th birthday!
• Congratulations on being even more experienced. I’m not sure what you learned this year, but every experience transforms us into the people we are today. Happy 50th birthday!
• Happy 50th birthday to my husband – the man who makes every day an adventure! I can’t wait to see what the next years bring!
• Let this birthday bring peace to your soul and happiness to your heart.
• Happy 50th birthday! I’m so grateful to be married to such an amazing man. You make every day special and I can’t wait to celebrate many more birthdays with you.
• Yesterday is gone, tomorrow is not here, so live today and enjoy the year.
• Happy 50th birthday to the most wonderful husband in the world! I feel so lucky to be married to you and I’m looking forward to many more happy years together.
Happy 50th Birthday Messages
They will love these happy 50th birthday messages.
• You’re not old! …oh, no wait, actually you are, sorry about that.
• Congratulations on being born a really long time ago.
• Age is but a number that you don’t have to reflect on the outside.
• Welcome to 50, an age when you’re still young at heart, but other body parts are starting to falter.
• The world is a much better place for having had you in it for the last 50 years. Here's to wishing you many happy returns
• Celebrating 50 years might take a while. Let's get started!
• With age comes wisdom…and wrinkles.
• Turning 50 is a piece of cake and a few extra candles.
• You’re like a fine wine, you keep getting better with age.
• You’re 15,600 days old, but who’s counting?
• Count your life by smiles, not tears. Count your age by friends, not years. Happy 50th birthday!
• What goes up but never comes down? Your age. Happy 50th birthday!
• Count not the candles…see the lights they give. Count not the years, but the life you live. Wishing you a wonderful time ahead. Happy 50th birthday.
• Cheer up! You're another day older every day.
• May the joy that you have spread in the past come back to you on this day. Wishing you a very happy 50th birthday!
• You are only young once, but you can be immature for a lifetime. Happy 50th birthday!
• Happy Birthday! You know, you don’t look that old. But then, you don’t look that young, either.
• You are definitely fifty if you notice that all your sentences start from ‘When I was younger…’.
• Everything you have worked for begins to fall into place when you turn 50.
th Birthday Greetings
Check out these 50th birthday greetings.
• Every year of life is a gift, even 50.
• As Helen Hayes says, age is not important unless you’re a cheese. Here’s a cheesy birthday wish for you, though.
• You are definitely fifty if you notice that all your sentences start from ‘When I was younger…’.
• Everything you have worked for begins to fall into place when you turn 50.
• You have accomplished so much these past 5 decades and so many more opportunities as headed your way.
• Take a deep breath and step on through. This is your new chapter.
• Cheers and beers to 50 years.
• Look forward to all that this next decade has to hold.
• At least you’re not as old as you will be next year.
• The older you get, the older I feel. So please stop getting older.
• There is still so much life to be lived at the ripe age of 50.
• It’s great to have a friend to grow old with… glad you’re first.
• Here’s to maturing like fine wine. Happy 50th birthday!
• Let's celebrate your aging with this cake.
• See age as the gift that it is and you will always be grateful on your birthday.
• Your birthday is the first day of another 365-day journey. Be the shining thread in the beautiful tapestry of the world to make this year the best ever. Enjoy the ride.
• The best years are still ahead of you. So, make the most of today. Happy 50th birthday.
• A birthday is a day to celebrate your achievements, your accomplishments, and your future.
• Age is but a number that you don’t have to reflect on the outside.
• Look forward to all that this next decade has to hold.
Messages for 50th Birthday Card
These are perfect to use as a message for a 50th birthday card.
• Sending you a hundred wishes so that you get everything you could hope for this birthday. Happy 50th birthday!
• Best wishes on your 50th birthday! I would make fun of you for being old, but I’m afraid you might toss your dentures at me and hit me with your cane!
• Congrats on turning the big 5-oh. You’ve accomplished so much in your life, and to think, you’re just getting started.
• Happy birthday! And remember you’re not 50 …you’re 28 with 22 years of experience.
• No one would ever guess that you’re 50 years old, and with the right incentive, I won’t tell! Happy birthday.
• Happy birthday. If your next 50 years are half as good as the first, you will have had a pretty amazing life.
• A wise man once said, ‘Forget about your past, you cannot change it’. I’d like to add, ‘Forget about your present, I didn’t get you one’. Happy 50th!
• You know, I would be a lot more excited about you turning one year older if I was in your will. Happy birthday!
• This year, I wish for even more time together with the greatest person I know. Happy 50th birthday to you, bestie!
• A wish for you on your birthday, whatever you ask may you receive, whatever you seek may you find, whatever you wish may it be fulfilled on your birthday and always. Happy birthday!
• I would have planned a big 50th birthday party for you, but who would’ve thought that you’d make it this far?
• Don’t get all weird about getting older! Our age is merely the number of years the world has been enjoying us!
• Time to start crossing things off that bucket list.
• Just be grateful you’re not fifty in dog years.
• You have accomplished so much these past 5 decades and so many more opportunities as headed your way.
Pun-ny and Funny 50th Birthday Card Messages
Check out these funny 50th birthday card messages that are full of puns and answer the question: ‘what to write in a 50th birthday card.
• Go ahead…cake my day.
• Turn up the MEWsic and let’s get his PAWty started!
• Happy 50th birthday. You’re one in a MELON.
• A 50th birthday cake is just like a golf ball. You’ve got to SLICE it.
• The cat’s out of the bag – you’re one year older. Hope your birthday leaves you FELINE good!
• Some only dream of big 50th birthday cakes. Others bake it happen.
• It’s your birthday? ALPACA my party hat.
• Wishing you a LLAMA fun on your birthday!
• Go, Shawty! It's Sherbert Day!
• Have a whaley great birthday!
• What’s a ghost’s favorite cake? I-scream cake.
• So, you’re spaghetting older…
• Here’s a TOAST to BUTTER days ahead – you deserve to spend the day in BREAD! I LOAF you.
• You FETA have a GOUDA birthday.
• Happy belated 50th birthday! Butter late than never.
• What do you call your 50th birthday? Your BEER-thday.
• Turning 50 is nothing to WINE about.
• Have a GRATE birthday. Hope that’s not too CHEESY.
• Feliz cumpleanos. Have a FLAN-tastic 50th birthday!
• That birthday party was gelato fun.
• What did one veggie say to the other on its birthday? Ha-pea birthday.
• Dim sum-body say it’s your 50th birthday?
• It is your 50th birthday, you BATTER believe it!
th Birthday Quotes
"As you get older, three things happen: The first is your memory goes, and I can't remember the other two." — Norman Wisdom
"One of the shocks of a 50th birthday is realizing the fundamental fact that your youth is irrevocably over." — Marianne Williamson
“I think when the full horror of being fifty hits you, you should stay home and have a good cry.” – Alan Bleasdale
“The years between fifty and seventy are the hardest. You are always being asked to do things, and yet you are not decrepit enough to turn them down.” – T. S. Eliot
"Nature gives you the face you have at 20, but it’s up to you to merit the face you have at 50." — Coco Chanel
“Fifty is the youth of old age.” – Victor Hugo
“Looking fifty is great – if you're sixty” Joan Rivers
"At middle age the soul should be opening up like a rose, not closing up like a cabbage" – John Andrew Holmes
"To me, old age is always 15 years older than I am." — Bernard Baruch
"Your age isn't you. Use today to feel your best, celebrate and be your very happiest." — M. Rivers
"Please don't retouch my wrinkles. It took me so long to earn them." — Anna Magnani
“You don't get older, you get better.” – Shirley Bassey
"I still think of myself as I was 25 years ago. Then I look in a mirror and see an old bastard and I realize it’s me." – Dave Allen
"Aging seems to be the only available way to live a long life." – Kitty Collins
"We turn not older with years, but newer every day." – Emily Dickinson
"Just remember, once you’re over the hill you begin to pick up speed." — Charles Schulz
th Birthday Cake Quotes
"Birthdays are nature’s way of telling us to eat more cake." — Edward Morykwas
"I like birthday cake. It's so symbolic. It's a tempting symbol to load with something more complicated than just ‘Happy birthday!' because it's this emblem of childhood and a happy day." — Aimee Bender
"Birthdays are a great time to stop and appreciate gravity. Sure, it makes things sag as you get older, but it also keeps your cake from flying all over the room, so you don’t have to chase it." – Greg Tamblyn
“If life is a birthday cake let my face be smeared with its icing of cognac and kindness.” – Aberjhani
"You know you're getting old when the candles cost more than the cake." — Bob Hope
“Celebration is life's frosting: isn't frosting the very best part of the cake?” – Bethenny Frankel
"You know you're getting old when you get that one candle on the cake. It's like, ‘See if you can blow this out.’" — Jerry Seinfeld
“The cake had a trick candle that wouldn't go out, so I didn't get my wish. Which was just that it would always be like this, that my life could be a party just for me.” – Janet Fitch
"Why is a birthday cake the only food you can blow on and spit on and everybody rushes to get a piece?" – Bobby Kelton
"When the candles on your cake burn down before they are all lit you know you are getting up there." – Catherine Pulsifer
th Birthday Captions
Cheers and beers to 50 years.
Be good to me, 50.
Chapter 50, Page 1.
After today, I’m celebrating my birthday in dog years.
50 is looking pretty good to me
Cheers to good friends, good vibes, and another 50 years.
I don’t care how old I’m turning, so long as there’s cake.
Woke up a little older… but not wiser.
Don’t wanna be sappy so… let’s just say 50 is already one for the books.
I think 50 looks good on me.
I can’t keep calm, it’s my 50th birthday.
Fierce, fabulous, and fifty!
You are not 50. You are eighteen with 32 years of experience.
Fabulous at fifty.
50 isn’t old if you’re a tree.
50 is five perfect 10’s.
Cheers to 50 years!
Lap 50 around the sun…
You make 50 look good.
You’re not 50. You’re 39.95 plus shipping and handling.
The first 50 years of childhood are always the hardest.
49 was so last year.
50… More fun than two 25-year olds!
So there you have it! Hopefully, we were able to help you find the best 50th birthday wish or 50th birthday greeting you were looking for.
Now get out there and help them celebrate turning 50!
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