You've had a birthday, shout hurray!

Birthdays are a funny thing. How you celebrate them changes over time. In the beginning everyone is more excited than you. Others make you a cake you just want to stick your fingers in and give you presents that come in cool boxes.
Then, you are more excited than everyone. Plans are made months ahead. You imagine every detail of the cake, the party, the invitations, etc. And the waiting game begins, because your last birthday was just yesterday.
Next, comes the anticipation of celebrating but only with certain people, namely friends. The parents who gave birth to you and the siblings who share your space are the least of your plans. There’s a whole wide world out there and it needs to tell you “Happy Birthday!”
Later, you just want to ignore that birthdays even exist. However, your spouse better not forget.
Finally, you return to the stage when everyone knows it is your birthday and how old you are. But, you don’t nor do you care because they are serving lunch in an hour and you’ve got to go line up outside the cafeteria in the assisted living facility.
Abby, my first lovely teenager, has reached the friend stage. We have a schedule for birthday parties. Even year equals a friend birthday. Odd year is a family party. So, Abby is fifteen and it was a family party but you wouldn’t have known this by observing her day.

Her biggest wish for her birthday was to sleep in, and because it was Saturday, we could oblige. So Abby greeted the day at 10 am and proceeded to prepare which takes at least one hour, no less. We then got to cram her cake and presents and a soccer game (we just skipped lunch) in the next three hours. At the stroke of 2 pm she was off with friends to EFY @ BYU Idaho. She got back at bedtime.
Now, I know I sound a little testy but actually it was a great day. What an uplifting way to spend one’s birthday and thankfully it was easy for her friends to join her. Also, she has great friends who took her up and brought her home and made her feel special. A mom can’t ask for much more.
It did give me a little taste of where my life is headed. More independence on their part means I have to learn to patiently wait in the background. The stress isn’t less, but it is less physically demanding. It’s good, right?

I am thankful for such a fun, beautiful, talented daughter. I don’t brag her up enough so let me say a little about my Abby. She really is gorgeous. Over the past year she has just blossomed (not to say you were and ugly duckling before). She has a wonderful sense of herself. She has a definite style that she carries easily. She has a great musical talent for the piano, singing and now the ukulele (her birthday present). She is smart and a hard worker. I don’t have to worry about her reports or essays, she pushes herself to perform marvelously. She is funny and friendly. Of course, she is a great skier and climber to her dad’s delight. She is a leader in church and never complains about going. She is a good big sister who can make her little sister’s day. She is a good story teller who can scare the pants off her brothers. We are so blessed to have her in our home.