When life seems a little bit upside down and unpredictable, as parents, it's our children we worry about most. So, a few weeks ago when my husband an I realized our nearly 13-year-old wouldn't get his wish of hanging out with friends around a campfire for his birthday, I decided I had to do something to help make his first day as a teenager special.
There have been countless heartwarming stories about how first responders, neighbours, and entire communities have been helping make birthdays special during the current pandemic. I opted against organizing a birthday parade, which seems to be the more popular route, and instead sent out a private message to a list of my son's friends and family members, using a more traditional method to wish him a happy birthday - the mail.
For the next couple weeks, birthday cards slowly arrived in our mailbox. We gathered them up, and on Saturday morning, handed the stack to our son.
Now, I will be the first to admit, this stage of early teenagehood is unpredictable. Sometimes, our son thinks we are fun, cool parents, and the next day we are made to feel as though we don't know anything at all, so I wasn't entirely sure how the idea would play out. Thankfully, our son has quite the sense of humour himself, and has always been thankful for any gifts he receives.
While my husband may have initially thought my idea of getting cards in the mail was immature, or cheesy, I think watching our son open them all on Saturday morning changed his mind - even if he won't admit it.
Our son read each card individually, taking a lot more time and attention than I've ever seen a child take while looking at birthday cards. Usually, there is so much excitement over the actual presents that cards are tossed to the side - and for this reason, I often don't even send cards to birthday parties.
But, this was different.
Having not seen the majority of the people who sent him cards for quite some time now, he truly did appreciate their little notes and the creativity put into the personalized cards. Some cards did in fact have gifts with them, which of course was a fun surprise, but even if the birthday card included a giftcard for his favourite video game, he didn't toss it aside.
Throughout the day, we had a few visitors stop by for some yard visits (at a distance), he had donuts dropped off, homemade brownies delivered, and used technology to visit with friends and family. When it came time to go to bed, he simply couldn't sleep. He said it was a great birthday. And despite not being able to have a big party, I know it will be one he will remember forever.
