The Celebration of Birthdays
It’s official…I am the mother of a teenager and there’s no turning back! My firstborn has reached the all mighty ‘13.”
It’s cathartic because for years I have been reminding my dear Robyn and Jacob that Jesus Christ began his prophetic journey at age 13 leaving his earthly parents, Mary and Joseph, behind and that they too should model their lives after Jesus.
I remember the first time I told them that about four or five years ago, Robyn looked at me with bulked eyes and asked “I got to live on my own at 13?” I chuckled and responded “no but that scenario would be ideal.” Of course that was just a joke, I think. In reality, as things stand, I could live with my baby girl forever but that too is not realistic. She will spread her vast, fast growing wings one day and fly away.
Heck, she is already talking about college on either the California or Florida coasts. Neither option disrupts my psyche because she has a brother and nephews in Cali and I have close friends near Miami.
There was no spectacular birthday this year though I had thought we would have a big celebration but that was pre-pandemic. Her last big party was at 10 so I figured the next would be at 13 and then of course 16. Nonetheless it was a low key weekend celebration that began with ice skating, her favorite pizza, and gelato on Friday. She was giddy with joy that night as she blasted into my room at midnight shouting “it’s my birthday, I am 13.”
The actual day revealed some presents, some light shopping (which resulted in more presents though she had plenty of cash to spend on her own), and some fresh air out & about on a beautiful sunny day. Ice cream birthday cake capped off her day. Her brother was glad to see the day come to a close, as all the attention was heaped onto his sister. He did manage to be nice to her for most of the day and even bought us some Starbucks.
Little brother went on to inquire about his forthcoming April birthday and whether he was having a big party since it will be his intro to the double digits. I assured him that since his sister had a big party at 10 that he would too—pandemic or not. Hopefully, the vaccine that arrived in Georgia this week will have squashed some pandemic woes by then. I actually think he couldn’t care less about a party and is mostly interested in getting a smartphone, preferably a Iphone 12 or whatever latest version is released by then. Mind you he had a phone before, not a fancy smartphone but a humble flip phone which he proceeded to misplace/lose which I am not convinced was accidental.
Anyway with Robyn’s birthday festivities behind us, we can focus on Christ’s birthday festivities. I usually don’t put the majority of the Christmas decor until after her day but my daughter beat me to the punch.
As she is virtual learning, I arrived home one day to find the sparkly metallic faux tree we bought a few years back up and lit. I asked her why she put it up when we had planned to get a real one for our main tree.
Each of us have private trees—she with two mini glitter cones, he has a mini blue tinseled one, and I have a tall skinny silver one. Anyway she was just ready for it to look like Christmas and felt no need to wait until after her birthday anymore to decorate for the celebration of Jesus’ birth since he has a greater impact on the world.
Wow, I thought, she’s growing up nicely. These teenage years might pan out.