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| The night before he turned seven #PokemonTrainer |
Seven is the number of completeness and perfection (both physical and spiritual). And this past week, my perfect son completed his seventh journey around the sun. It's nearly impossible to describe what he means to me, but I will try. Moms say that they don't have favorites, but I don't believe it because I do. I don't have a favorite child. Each of my children is different. However, each embodies the best of me--but in different ways. So, each of them is my favorite for different reasons.
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| Newborn baby |
Today is the birthday of my favorite sensitive soul, my middle child and eldest son, our Crown Prince. This guy is the child who cannot get enough of me. Indeed, he would drown me in a sea of never ending hugs if I let him. Every day, the saddest part is when we say goodbye and the happiest is when we say hello again. To be fair, my other kids love me too. However, this little guy loves me with a purity of spirit and fierceness that is unparalleled, especially this past year.
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| Son at the beach (photo credit Jeryn Turner) |
You see, his birthday is on March 15th. And his birthday last year marked the beginning of the shutdowns. know that many families were hit much harder by the pandemic than ours. So, this isn't a post about comparative misery. Rather, it is a post about how one family and one kid greeted the pandemic. Birthdays in the Time of COVID19
Like every child who has been blessed with a charmed existence, my son revels in his birthday. He starts looking forward to it in January and has strong opinions about how he should spend his time, who he should spend that time with, and what he should eat during that time. For him, birthdays = parties, fun and friends!
His 2020 Birthday
Last year, a party was planned. We planned for it--we invited guests, bought favors, ordered a cake, cleaned our house. We decorated. Since his birthday was two days after the last day of school, it didn't occur to me to cancel it. I assumed that his classmates would still attend since they had already been exposed to the same things. I guess their parents assumed that the party had been cancelled because the shutdowns were scheduled for the next day. We all know that assumptions tend to lead to confusion and misaligned expectations. And that is exactly what happened here.
It was pretty awful!
We waited. We waited. And we waited. Fortunately, our daughter's best friend, some adult family members came and some dear friends with their children came. However, not one of my son's school friends came. He had been discussing his party for weeks, making plans with them, and woke up that morning believing that they would be there. He even asked us to delay cutting his cake "until [his] friends arrived." Needless to say, at some point it became apparent that time was never coming. I didn't give up though. I texted a mom I new well who said, "We'll have to do something another time."
Don't get me wrong. I understood the parents decision. I would have just appreciated some notice so that I could have managed my child's expectations. To add insult to injury, our daughter's best friend spent the night. So, from our son's perspective, his sister got to have her dreams come true on his birthday while his were shattered.
His Birthday 2021
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| My son, ready for the world |
This year, a party was planned. a party was planned. We planned for it--we invited guests, bought favors, ordered a cake, cleaned our house . We decorated. However, there were some additional complications. We switched our son's school last year and the school we chose has been virtual since last March. So, he has spent the entire school year interacting with children he has never met in person. (He had the benefit of meeting one of them in person once, but that was in August.) That's not the best way to build connections.
Because of what happened last year, I took out a bit of an insurance policy. I asked one mom if her son could come for a sleepover. This kid is someone my son used to go to school with and whom he regards as a brother from another mother. I also happen to work with his mother. So, I knew if she committed, it would happen. And it did.
This year, there was a party replete with vaccinated grandparents, a friend, and eventually, a moon bounce. There was a theme (largely recycled from last year), party favors and lots of fun. And, most importantly, my son was happy. It meant the world to me that he enjoyed his birthday party this year. And that made me VERY happy.
Happy birthday my son, you are complete and perfect and I am so honored to be your mama!
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