The Fish Pond: Surprises of Old Friends

Due to our vacation and a bunch of other conflicts, I ended up not being able to have Little Man's birthday party near his birthday. He turned 7 on September 12, and we had a little cake at home and took him to buy his present, a skateboard that he has yet to really use because he wants both BigDaddyFish and me to help him learn how. Never mind that neither of us can skateboard. I wanted to have a party for him on the 13th, but my sister's bridal shower was held that day, planned by the matron of honor without her checking with any of the rest of the wedding party to see if that day/time worked. So, we cobbled together a party for him this past Saturday. We rented a picnic pavillion at a nearby park/playground, invited a couple of friends from school, a neighbor friend, some adult friends of the family, and his cousins and wonder of wonder, everyone was able to come.

Friday night I stayed up stuffing the pinata and the treat bags, and the phone rang about 8:45. I almost didn't answer it, because I was busy and we don't usually get calls that "late" as it is in the middle of our typical bedtime routine. But I picked it up, and that's probably the best decision I made all week.

"Hello, FishyGirl? I don't know if you remember me, but I'm Friend's Mom, from Little Man's class last year? We moved at the end of the year?" Of course I remember, Little Man was a wreck for weeks after they moved. Friend, who I'll call John, was Little Man's best friend at school, and he was devastated when they moved. It intensified a period of acting out that had begun a month prior, when it was announced that John was moving. To Georgia (the state, not the country). We had talked about exchanging emails before they left, but it never happened and we really mourned the loss of that friendship.

"Well, we're in town this weekend, and we were wondering if we could get Little Man and John together to see each other while we're here." Would we ever. I invited them to the party, all five of them, and they came.

So from 1-4 pm on Saturday, we threw a bunch of sandwich fixings, chips, grapes, and carrots on a table, let the kids eat, let the kids run and play and climb on the playground equipment and play games and eat and run and play some more. We had cake and a pinata (though I forgot the candles, but it was kinda breezy so I'm unsure how they would have lasted, anyway), though several of the kids lamented that it was the pull-string kind and not the beat-the-hell-out-of-it kind (we use a wooden baseball bat for pinata bashing and it's a great way to use up some of that energy). No one wanted to go home. It was a glorious day. Finally, John's family had to leave to drive back to Georgia (but not before we got their email address), so that started the exodus, though our family friends and my sister in law and my nieces and my sister came back to our house. The last guest finally left at 10pm.

I could not, in all my imagination, have come up with a better scenario for a birthday party. Simple, cheap, fun, and most of all, full of the love of friends and family. The way it should be.