It’s hard to have a birthday two days after Christmas. You want to have a party, but it feels like nobody’s at home, and everyone is all gifted out, as it is—even the birthday boy.
So it seemed, this year, that it would be a good idea to maybe start a new tradition and celebrate Everett’s half-birthdays with his friends. That way, we’d have his party in the summertime, at the pool, just as William, with his August birthday, has enjoyed for the last three years.
But the date of Everett’s half-birthday arrived in the middle of Vacation Bible School, one week after our family trip to the beach, and one week before we left for Long Island. Somehow, fitting a birthday party into the middle of that schedule Just Didn’t Work Out.
Then we got home from Long Island, and suddenly I was in the throes of more curriculum writing, and weeks went on, and No Party.
And William’s birthday was coming up.
Suddenly—a brilliant thought. Why not have the boys’ parties together?? Many of their friends are siblings anyway; why not simplify things for all parents involved and have one big shindig at the pool?
And that’s what we did. Last night, from 5:30-8, we let the pool entertain all fourteen of our guests and our
own children in celebration of William and Everett’s birthdays. There were only two moments of panic: 1) when the day dawned cloudy and rainy, and I was wondering if I’d have to entertain them all in my house and 2) when the cake, which was shaped like a fishbowl and stood on its side, fell over in the car and collapsed onto my purse.
But all is well that ends well. Around 1 p.m. the sun came out and we enjoyed the most beautiful, humidity-free afternoon and evening we’ve had since mid-May. The cake survived, was duly admired and, better yet, devoured. It had seventeen and a half candles on it: ten for William, and seven and half for Everett.
Everett has been seven and a half for almost two months now; William won’t be ten for nine more days. But do you really have to have the birthday party on the day of the birthday? I obviously don’t think so. After all, a birthday is a celebration of a life, and these two lives, well…. I like to celebrate them Every Day.
