It’s the boy child’s birthday on Monday. He will be 19. First time he’s ever been away from home on his birthday. I, however, have twice before been traveling on business. Never neglected to celebrate of course, threw birthday parties ranging from homemade carnivals at the park, to a day at the slot car race, to a ski weekend for three. But I prefer that he be gone and I be here. I prefer maternal loneliness to maternal guilt.
Looking for something to do, I asked my daughter if the boy child needed a birthday cake. Answer?
Daughter: (8:14:49 AM) his friends are throwing him a surprise party
Daughter: (8:14:54 AM) they invited me
Mother: (8:15:00 AM) oh good
[I’m super-eloquent like that. I try not to talk too much when I have my kids on IM so they don’t notice that they are talking me. If they knew then they might have to run away…]
So I sent him various and sundry dinosaurs from the Oriental Trading Company (having already sent the Cold War unicorns) and gave him money to go to Belgium with my best friend’s daughter for a week. I have a feeling that from now on this is the mode for boy child birthdays. Needless to say I still remember the day he and the girl he’s going to Belgium with were in the back seat of my car, aged 2-ish, chattering about whether they preferred pachycephalosauruses or triceratops. But such is motherhood.
6 Responses
Dinosaurs? Hmmm…..
“I prefer maternal loneliness to maternal guilt”……oh how I agree with that statement.
Love your observation Miss LPC, the “…loneliness over guilt…” preference.
Is there anything better than Archie McPhee? We fight over that catalog when it comes in. One of our first Archie acquisitions was our genuine plastic glow in the dark St. Clare of Assisi statuette. She is perched on top of the TV. (In case you somehow missed this, she is the Patron Saint of TV. Honest.)
Princess a love of kitsch is part of the culture, no?
Aw. I particularly like your Saturday posts.
I hope it hasn’t been too lonely a day for you today. I always feel a little funny for my mummy when it’s my birthday and she’s far away.
These posts make me happy. Sit down, smile, write. And although I miss my kids, if they are glad to be where they are, it makes up for my missing. That and a healthy helping of IM.
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