Birthday Blessings
We've got birthdays up the wahoo here at the Doucette home. In the last week we've celebrated birthdays for: my husband, son, daughter, mother, and brother-in-law. Technically, it's the cat's birthday too, but I'm drawing the line.
Actually, I'm a birthday party junkie - I love cake, ice-cream, and the usual merrymaking of the birthday celebratory-type. Oh, and I love presents. I think gifts are my love language – shallow, I know, but there it is.
When I was growing up, even though our family tended to be a bit frugal (read: broke), my mother always took the time to make me feel special on my birthday. I was allowed to choose the meal for the night (sweet and sour chicken and rice), the dessert (chocolate pudding layered dessert), and a few select friends to spend the night.
And there were always presents. Here are some of my favorite birthday gifts:
You may be wondering about #5 (then again, you may be 9 years old and not wondering about anything at all except maybe what a "wahoo" is). A few years ago, I was having a selfish moment. It was not the first and I'm sorry to say not the last. It was my birthday and I was scheduled to speak at a local MOPS group. It was raining. I was moving ever farther away from my twenties. And I wanted the day to be SPECIAL. I wanted it to be ALL ABOUT ME!
My husband had taken the day off from work in order to give me the day off from mothering, laundry, and meal preparation. It was a grand gesture, but it didn't involve balloons, chocolate cake, or tiarras of any kind. So I pouted and grumbled to myself all morning as I got ready to share the blessings of the Christian life and of motherhood with another group of women.
I know. It's ironic.
That's when my little girl ran up to me with a big smile, a big hug, and a terry cloth hand towel. "Here's your gift." She said proudly offering the towel. "Open it up! I'm giving you 37 dollars, my favorite marbles, and my favorite rocks. I took the 37 dollars from my piggy bank and I thought you could go buy something special with it today while you're shopping on your day off."
I may not have gotten any chocolate cake, but humble pie was in abundance that day. I gotta say, those special rocks, marbles, and 37 "dollars" were probably the best gift I've ever recieved - because they were given selflessly to selfish little ol' me. And because they still continue to remind me to be thankful for birthday blessings that come in all shapes, sizes, and . . . uhm, fabric.
