Reason #274
Today is my mom's birthday! Happy birthday, mom! I am always so grateful to celebrate another year of life with the ones I love. Plus, I think birthdays are the best. Really, a day all about you. It can't get much better than that. A day to celebrate your life. Because life really is precious, and it's a gift to have another year of it under your belt.
I will be honest and say that I was looking forward to celebrating my mom's birthday as much as she was. In fact, I think I was more excited to celebrate her birthday this year than mine, and a fabulous celebration it was! We kicked off her birthday celebration last night with a family dinner and then enjoyed a lovely day together today. Home football games have become a new family tradition, so we spent the afternoon cheering on our team as we roasted in the sun. I love family time, I really do. I know I mention them a lot, but that's because they're so great. All of them! My mom and I have a special bond, as you well know by now. I always enjoy getting to spend time with her. So, today, I sat sandwiched between my mom and my brother, and in usual mother/daughter style, we carried on a solid 4-hour conversation between yelling our lungs out with the rest of the stadium.
It's amazing the difference a year can make. A year doesn't seem like that much time, but in retrospect, it is. And so a lot has happened this year. Not just for me, but for them, too. My family has been through a lot. Lots of changes, lots of ups and downs, lots of trials, and lots of joy. In other words, we've experienced a lot together. One year ago, my mom had a sad little birthday party. We sat on the back porch and we ate pizza. A little, tiny, depressing pizza party. This was not how we intended to celebrate. And I felt like a failure in more ways than one. I believe birthdays should be special and memorable. I have happily assumed the role of party planner for events such as Mother's Day, Father's Day and parent birthdays, so I had made plans for her birthday last year. I had planned weeks in advance for her gift, began to plan out a menu for her birthday dinner and had picked a time and date. Unfortunately, for the sake of her birthday party, things were not going to turn out as planned. I felt miserable because I knew this was ruining her special day. This was not how it was supposed to go. But, that's the joy of family. You stick together through it all, you pull the weight for one another when they aren't strong enough to pull their own, and you're there for each other no matter what. So they did that. With pizza and paper plates, we sat on the back porch and for a few short hours, the 5 of us celebrated her the best we could. Under really difficult and confusing circumstances, the 5 of us made the most of our evening. And without words, we understood that this wasn't ideal, but we were just simply grateful to have one another. Grateful that the 5 of us could sit around in lawn chairs and know that we loved each other deeply and were going to get through this together.
We did. We got through it, and it was joyous occasion to have 10 bodies to celebrate my mom with last night. We doubled the size of last year's party! And as much as I loved being surrounded by 9 people I care deeply about, my heart was so grateful to just sit with her at the game today, on her actual birthday, and chat. To jump up and down and clap for our team with her, to share a basket of chicken strips and french fries with her, to laugh at our windblown hair, and to talk about what all God has done and is doing. Because as difficult as this year was, it has turned out to be one of the best years of my life. I don't know if she'd say the same thing, but I have a feeling she might agree.
So I am grateful that God has given her another year of life. Grateful that I've gotten to spend it with her, too! And most of all, I'm grateful for all He has done for us between her last birthday and this one. And, if this year's birthday celebration is any indiciation of next year's, well, I think I'll be just as excited to celebrate that one, too!
Happy birthday, mom! I love you!
#274 - For birthdays and reasons to celebrate!
"Rise up, O Lord, in all your power. With music and singing we celebrate your mighty acts." - Psalm 21:13
I will be honest and say that I was looking forward to celebrating my mom's birthday as much as she was. In fact, I think I was more excited to celebrate her birthday this year than mine, and a fabulous celebration it was! We kicked off her birthday celebration last night with a family dinner and then enjoyed a lovely day together today. Home football games have become a new family tradition, so we spent the afternoon cheering on our team as we roasted in the sun. I love family time, I really do. I know I mention them a lot, but that's because they're so great. All of them! My mom and I have a special bond, as you well know by now. I always enjoy getting to spend time with her. So, today, I sat sandwiched between my mom and my brother, and in usual mother/daughter style, we carried on a solid 4-hour conversation between yelling our lungs out with the rest of the stadium.
It's amazing the difference a year can make. A year doesn't seem like that much time, but in retrospect, it is. And so a lot has happened this year. Not just for me, but for them, too. My family has been through a lot. Lots of changes, lots of ups and downs, lots of trials, and lots of joy. In other words, we've experienced a lot together. One year ago, my mom had a sad little birthday party. We sat on the back porch and we ate pizza. A little, tiny, depressing pizza party. This was not how we intended to celebrate. And I felt like a failure in more ways than one. I believe birthdays should be special and memorable. I have happily assumed the role of party planner for events such as Mother's Day, Father's Day and parent birthdays, so I had made plans for her birthday last year. I had planned weeks in advance for her gift, began to plan out a menu for her birthday dinner and had picked a time and date. Unfortunately, for the sake of her birthday party, things were not going to turn out as planned. I felt miserable because I knew this was ruining her special day. This was not how it was supposed to go. But, that's the joy of family. You stick together through it all, you pull the weight for one another when they aren't strong enough to pull their own, and you're there for each other no matter what. So they did that. With pizza and paper plates, we sat on the back porch and for a few short hours, the 5 of us celebrated her the best we could. Under really difficult and confusing circumstances, the 5 of us made the most of our evening. And without words, we understood that this wasn't ideal, but we were just simply grateful to have one another. Grateful that the 5 of us could sit around in lawn chairs and know that we loved each other deeply and were going to get through this together.
We did. We got through it, and it was joyous occasion to have 10 bodies to celebrate my mom with last night. We doubled the size of last year's party! And as much as I loved being surrounded by 9 people I care deeply about, my heart was so grateful to just sit with her at the game today, on her actual birthday, and chat. To jump up and down and clap for our team with her, to share a basket of chicken strips and french fries with her, to laugh at our windblown hair, and to talk about what all God has done and is doing. Because as difficult as this year was, it has turned out to be one of the best years of my life. I don't know if she'd say the same thing, but I have a feeling she might agree.
So I am grateful that God has given her another year of life. Grateful that I've gotten to spend it with her, too! And most of all, I'm grateful for all He has done for us between her last birthday and this one. And, if this year's birthday celebration is any indiciation of next year's, well, I think I'll be just as excited to celebrate that one, too!
Happy birthday, mom! I love you!
#274 - For birthdays and reasons to celebrate!
"Rise up, O Lord, in all your power. With music and singing we celebrate your mighty acts." - Psalm 21:13
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