Brad laughs at me all the time--especially around birthdays. I openly admit I tend to go a bit over the top. I look at special days--holidays, birthday, day trips--as a page in the kids' childhood storybooks. I imagine them mentally turning pages someday and remembering how they felt on those days. I can still picture every birthday cake Mom made me, and I still feel that love. I want the same for them.
That means that I tend to want things to go well. Evan's birthday was...not so well. He still says he had a perfect birthday, though, so that's all that matters!
I did take the requested donuts and juice to his class on Monday, and I was pleasantly surprised when Evan turned down being served first and requested to help pass out the treats. We went home early, and he had a lovely afternoon playing his new video game before he and Daddy headed to the dojo. Evan wanted to go because his teachers promised to flip him nine times for his birthday. Does life get any better when you're nine?
They took off for the dojo, and I set to work making the requested pasta salad for dinner.
As it was happily chilling, Brad called. They were stuck in traffic; I needed to go get Issa from dance. No problem. Then from Evan, "If you haven't started dinner yet, I was thinking I would really like to go to Red Robin's for dinner." The pasta salad would keep. We decided to meet there.
I pick Issa up, and she has a headache. I offer to take her home, but she thinks she just needs to eat. The closer we got to dinner, the more miserable she got. Brad walked in the restaurant and she fell apart. The two of them left while Evan and I had his birthday dinner. He announced mid-dinner that he kind of liked it being just the two of us; we don't get a lot of one-on-one time these days.
Poor Issa had a migraine like she hasn't had in a year. She actually got sick on the way home, and when we got home she was sound asleep. She woke up enough to whisper with Evan, who was worried about her. They both felt awful--her for "ruining" his dinner; him because she was so sick.
Issa woke up better yesterday. We had the birthday lava cakes the day after his birthday when we could all enjoy them. He proclaimed it the best three-day birthday celebration ever!
It's funny. I was so worried about his day, but he didn't see it that way. We created some great memories, and I saw the very best in my kiddos and their love for each other. I guess a little trouble makes storybooks that much better.
No comments:
Post a Comment