Turn Out the Lights...The Party's Over.

   That's not just the title of a drowsy Willie Nelson song anymore... that's how I feel after somehow pulling off yet another birthday party for one of my kids.  My son turned 9 this month (which is a feat in and of itself, when you consider I used to mark off every day he was still alive under my care, after he was born.)

   Well, now that I can openly celebrate my kids' birthdays without trepidation there might not be another one, I find myself wishing there wasn't another brithday party to go along with it.  They've become as draining as going into labor, without the breathing exercises.  Which by the way, would have been handy yesterday, after the giant slip n' slide we spend hundreds of dollars on, was utilized for all of 15 minutes.  At which point my son and a dozen of his friends turned to me and said, "We're bored.  Can we play Playstation 3?"  (I immediately had visions of tossing my son down the slip n' slide myself, much like the way tigers carry their young by the scruff of the neck.)

   I articulated my simmering feelings by simply saying "Are you kidding me?"  Which my intuitive son, quite rightly took as his Irish Mom's way of saying "You better be kidding" and quickly retracted his statement.

   It was then we decided to break out the water balloons (which cost us a total of three bucks) and all the memories of my own childhood birthday parties came splashing back.  Here we were in the shadow of this portable monster water park...and the kids just wanted to pelt each other with water balloons.  Reminding me once again, to keep it simple. 

    In our fast paced, plugged in, highly produced world, I WAS THE ONE making it bigger than it needed to be....thinking the scale of his party might somehow match the weight of my love for him.  But like most sayings.... there's a reason, people say "it's the little things that make the greatest impression."   Because it's true.

   Which is why I now have six months to plan my daughter something really simple that celebrates the other greatest day of my life...and now, I'm actually looking forward to it.