Another end to end good day…(birthday party)

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" 

Philippians 4:4(NIV)

Yesterday was our son’s birthday…quite a day. We filled it with bolts from the blue…homemade blueberry waffles with maple syrup, spontaneous shopping sprees (relatives sent money in advance), a surprise visit (a godmother traveled 460 miles roundtrip to have lunch with him; it was her birthday too) and finally a backyard barbeque, burgers and dogs, the kind of birthday parties I remembered from my childhood. We told him we were taking it old school. It was an end to end good day, and we rejoiced.

So the backyard barbeque didn’t stay there. We got going later than anticipated, and ended up congregating around the dining room table, mosquitoes NOT invited. I’d asked friends and neighbors to come share with us, and that is what we did. There was laughter, paper plates, brightly colored napkins and lots of smiles. It was spontaneous. It was fellowship, it was (to quote my son) “epic.”

I looked around the table and acknowledged the depth of our blessings. He was blessed with a beautiful day, but we are blessed with a village who loves us and encourages us, prays with us, laughs with (and at) us, and makes me proud. It wasn’t just my nuclear family assembled around the table loving my no-longer-a-baby boy, it was a community.

Yesterday I saw a little bit more of my baby leave, and a little more of the man he will become arrive.  He seems taller than the day before, voice just a tone deeper. He is more sober, more serious, still my love.

Yesterday was our son’s birthday…quite a day. We fellowshipped with friends, laughed with family near and far, ushered in some new while bidding farewell to what is passed. I am not sad for what is gone.  Every age is the best age, and as always the best is yet to come. It was another end to end good day, and for that I will rejoice. Rejoicing. Another reminder that God is good.