Birthday Season 2021

 In the last month, Mike turned 45, Juan David turned 24, and David turned 20. With a family of four adults, it gets a bit harder every year to try to celebrate all together, and this year we just had to be flexible to find that time. 

For Mike's birthday, we went bowling, had a cookout, and his boss actually gave him the day off, so he and David got to watch the Cowboy's game together. We also all four went out to Chili's together the night before. We kept it low key and relaxed after just having returned recently from a trip to Indiana to see his family. Juan got him the shoes he wanted, and David got him stuff for the garage. I got him a wall hanging with pictures I snapped of his family together and of the house he grew up in.  We had a skillet cookie with ice cream on the 30th, and then we had cheesecake instead of cake on his birthday. 

For Juan's birthday, we went to a movie together that he wanted to see, and then that night we went out to eat together after church. We got him something for his car that he let us know he wanted.  He's been on a health/fitness kick recently, so he asked for fruit salad instead of a cake. I didn't get out to get the fruit salad, but I did walk to the grocery store that morning to get fruit bowls of various mixed fruits. 

I had to go searching to find this picture, but I found it and posted it on Facebook so that it's there now as a yearly memory on his birthday, the first birthday gift I ever gave him, the one he opened on our last phone call together before they cut off my contact with him in Colombia when the adoption failed. I am always reminded of the privilege it is to give him gifts every year on November 6th. 

For David's birthday, the celebration came in parts. First I gave him a blanket I had made with a picture of his beloved truck. He knew I ordered it early when they had a sale, so he asked to have it early to take to Indiana with us. We knew he wasn't coming home for his birthday on the 16th (a Tuesday), but he stopped by home on Friday night on his way to a football game with one of his housemates, so I gave him a second gift, two decks of cards with pics of his truck on them. The next day Mike went to DBU to work on his truck with him, so I sent a little cake for him to enjoy with his housemates. Finally on black Friday (the 26th), we got to take him out for his birthday dinner. 

(Since I gave him his gift back in September, I made him let me have cake and sing to him then, too. Lol.)

I can't believe my baby is 20, the one who made me a mom. We graduated the teenage years in our home! A bittersweet day, for sure. 

Cherishing these celebrations, especially now that my boys are beginning to live their own adult lives and my role in their lives changes more and more each day. As much as I miss their younger years when they relied on me a bit more as their mom, I am trying to cherish this stage of their lives, as well, watching them take risks, take responsibility for themselves, and learn to be independent. I'm not saying it's easy, but I don't know that any stage is easy.