Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight's 62nd birthday is today. Or is it?
For 61 years, Basnight celebrated his birthday on May 13.
"My mother always told me it was the 13th," he said.
Last year, Basnight was planning a trip to Canada that he ultimately didn't take. He needed a passport, his first, and had a staffer request a copy of his birth certificate. When it arrived, an aide explained that his birthday was May 14.
"I said, 'No. Uh uh,'" Basnight recalled. He was born in a house in Manteo. His mother had gone across town to visit a friend when she went into labor. In those days, the Outer Banks were far more remote. (Basnight's childhood home had no electricity and a kerosene heater in the winter.) He was born without the assistance of a doctor. He doesn't know if sloppy record keeping is to blame for the birth certificate.
He considered changing the birth certificate to the 13th when friends and colleagues warned that he could get tied up in all sorts of Homeland Security questions: "'It'll be years!'" Basnight recalled others telling him.
So he changed his driver's license to the 14th instead but still celebrates today. Legislators and lobbyists can tell him "Happy Birthday!" today but can follow up with: "Are you sure?"
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