Happy Birthday #1 Son…

There comes a time in every parent’s life when the bulk of the birthday celebrations have to be handed over to friends, spouses, partners or significant others.

This happened to me once I’d graduated from university and moved to Guernsey with my first husband.

My parents would call to wish me Happy Birthday, we’d take a short trip down memory lane and I’d tell the plans that had been made for me that day by my new family and we’d hang up and continue with our lives.

With #1 Son we’ve kept up with what we call Funyuns Day, whereby a bag of Funyuns is presented 4 days before his birthday, on September 30th, which was his due date.

While he still lived at home this was quite an easy undertaking but it became more challenging with college and apartments, jobs and moving across country leading to eventual independence.  We had to rely on the goodwill of college friends, colleagues and acquaintances to spring the surprise, or persuade him to come home for the weekend.

When he moved to LA we found a whole new circle of people happy to jump onto the Tradition Bandwagon of Funyuns Day.

Last year we casually mentioned the rite to his girlfriend.

She already knew.

His room-mate, prompted by us, had left a trail of a dozen packs of Funyuns in his apartment to be stumbled upon throughout the day.

I’ll do something next year!” she said enthusiastically.

Her promise must have slipped my mind.

Many words are spoken in 12 months, many conversations long forgotten.  September rolled around right on schedule and Hubs and I enlisted Amazon as co-conspirator.

On September 30th #1 Son sent us a photo of his breakfast table,

Funyuns2

Breakfast with Funyuns

featuring multi-flavored Funyuns delights.

Our hearts rose momentarily until we realized they were not the ones we’d ordered from Amazon.

Jenn had come through…

Thanks Jenn.

Funyuns4

Our package didn’t arrive until after the weekend, a couple of days late.

No thanks Amazon!

Funyuns

The next day, October 3rd, we took our habitual trip down memory lane via a digital device, and were reminded, when he recounted that the first special event of the day had been a morning trip to Disneyland, that Hubs and I had never taken him to visit Mickey.

Next stop was a Stephen King thriller called It.

“Then we’re going to The Melting Pot for dinner,” he said taking a bite of yummy, home-made chocolate cake filled with mousse and covered in ganache.

“You’ve been to a Melting Pot before…” I said to ease the sting of the Disneyland gap in his childhood.

“Never,” he challenged.

“Yes!  The one down on Greenville.  We took you when you were young,” we insisted.

“I don’t think it was a memorable experience for a 2 year old,” he countered with smile.

He was a little older than 2 but point taken.

“Would Disneyland have been a memorable experience for a 2 year old?” I asked as we prepared to hang up Face-Time.

He laughed.

“Happy Birthday Ina!  Enjoy It.

 

Share this:

No comments so far!

elRay

2017-11-17 23:41:53 Reply

Yea! Happy Birthday Ian!

Leave a Comment