Second Chances

It was a Happy Birthday after all.

Yes ... it was My Youngest's birthday yesterday and it gave us a second chance to make his 11th birthday (if not one of the best), a better memory.

It's all in the small stuff. Really.

As I crawled out of bed and faced the day yesterday, it was My Youngest's birthday request that I take the night off of 'everything', that got me going. If I had to have an uncommitted evening, I had to get cracking.

I was so busy getting to the day, that My Youngest was up about an hour before I wished him a Happy Birthday. But when I finally did, we had a little chuckle about it when he said "Finally ... you remembered!" I immediately responded, "But you weren't even born yet."

He got a birthday card and gift from one of the parents I babysit for before he went to school ... and his birthday was starting off rather nicely.

I ordered a small cake for his birthday which he didn't know about and it hit me yesterday morning that I should take it to school and surprise him with it (I couldn't take it, because I had 7 kids underfoot all morning but one of my parents dropped it off for me after she left here). It's unfortunate that 20 people shared this small cake ... but it's the thought that counts, right?

And it counted. My Youngest couldn't believe it when the cake arrived for him. I never, ever do things like that. So it wasn't a surprise party ... but it was a surprise. Mission accomplished - I believe I made my boy happy on his birthday.

The evening was perfect. We did nothing extraordinary - we went to Toys 'R Us as per his birthday request (and found an overpriced set of Lego which we ended up returning an hour later, when we found it over $10.00 cheaper in Walmart), we ate at the mall and we quite simply just spent a leisurely evening not running my errands as I let My Youngest call the shots. That ... was the best gift of all (I believe I received as much or more than I gave, when I simply gave him my time).

My gift to him this year were 9 'Gift Coupons'. Basically gifts of time - a bike ride and an ice cream; pizza and a movie; one hour of my uninterrupted time; take a friend to the lake for a day; an activity of his choice; a bike ride and a slurpee; another ''Take the Night Off" (and spend it with him); a "Let's Go Shopping" (with a dollar limit but no restriction as to what he can spend it on); and lastly a 'Birthday Movie' which I will put together with the memories that we have of this 11th Birthday Gone Awry (but salvaged, when given a second chance).