big birthday night

There is no way my son is going to forget my birthday as I have been reminding him about it for a month.  As in, "I don't need you to spend any money on me, but I do expect you to do something." And lest he not be able to figure out what that means, I provide a couple of examples.

"You can make me a nice card."

"You can cook us both dinner and clean up."

"And don't ask for my advice.  I want this all to be from you."

So today I wake up and there's no card.  Around noon Alexander says, "I'm working on your card. You'll have it later."

Then around five, "Okay, it's done. I'd like to give it to you now. But I haven't colored in the drawings yet."  I tell him I want the card when it's complete. "But I don't have any colored pencils," Alexander complains. I remind him of a big wooden box of luxurious colored pencils he got when he was young. They are mostly unused.

It's worth the wait.

Alexander's card is heartfelt and hilarious, with drawings that make me laugh out loud.  Among other things he writes in his card, he says, "It really has been a ton of fun living with you over the past nine months...I am very happy that my decision to put off employment ... has paid off."

Around seven, Alexander begins thinking about what to make for dinner. I tell him I don't want to know what he's cooking, though he still needs to ask me if we have certain products in the house.

"Do we have honey?"

"Do we have parsley?"

"Do we have pecans?"

"Do we have Dijon mustard?"

"Do we have lemon wedges?  By the way what does a lemon wedge even look like?"

I have no idea what Alexander is creating —only that pecans are too expensive so he substitutes with peanuts. 

Around nine, dinner is served.



Love the lemon wedge substitute.

Aside from the bones (one I nearly choke on; in fact, I think it's still stuck in my throat), the dinner is excellent.

And being with my son, who always makes me laugh, is the best gift of all.