Gifts of Time

This past week was my 34th birthday. Hands down, the best birthday so far.

My son actually did not believe it was my birthday when I told him the day before... which is funny because a couple weeks ago he found out my birthday was coming up and he made me a huge poster that says “LOVE YOU MOM” as an early birthday present.

On Wednesday, we went out to dinner with my brother and he asked my son whether there was anything special about the day. When kiddo looked confused, my brother said, “Like a birthday?” “Oh. Yeah.” Well, Uncle is a better authority on when Mom’s birthday actually occurs than Mom is anyway. ;-)

I love spending time with my brother. And he spoiled me pretty well, too.

Various people in my life, whom I love dearly, sent me cards and unexpected gifts. But the most valuable thing was time. Three people gave me time in three different ways.

Spending dinner with my brother took an evening out of whatever he would have been doing after training at work. I always look forward to spending time with him. And my son LOVES to hang out with Uncle. He’s so cool.

One of my friends gave me money earmarked for hiring a babysitter so that I can get out of the house once in a while. It is so nice to be able to just get out and spend time away.

One friend drove in from far away to spend time with both of us and then took the time to go outside and play with my son so that I could get some housework done in peace. I can’t remember the last time I got so much done in such a short space of time. For the first time in months, most of my weekend chores actually got accomplished... with plenty of time to play in between.

Today I asked my son what was the best part of the weekend. He informed me that spending time with my friend was the best part because the friend is fun and played football and soccer with him. This is high praise from an active twelve year old. Thankfully he has a few activities the next couple weekends because going from so much fun to just having to hang with Mom would definitely be a bummer. ;-)