Mark turned 14 today. I am overwhelmed by the thought that I have a 14 year old. Where did time go? 14 years ago tonight I was sleeping in a hospital bed. I know I was sleeping because the nurses had to wake me up to feed Mark. Life couldn't get any more magical I thought. And while I went on to have two more children, the magic of my first night as a mother really never was repeated. Matthew and Noah's days were magical for other reasons.
Now birthdays are supposed to be good days. Nothing bad is supposed to happen on your birthday. But poor Mark is growing up, and learning that birthdays aren't always fun. Every year I take the boys their choice of lunch. Mark wanted Chicken from the popular chicken store, you know, the one with the best lemonade ever. So I went, only to get there and remember they are closed until April for remodeling. Then he asked for a red velvet cake. I had to go to three stores to find him one. We were supposed to take that cake to church tonight so he could share it with his youth group. But because I drove all around town looking for one it was not ready in time to take. Not to mention that I have never baked a red velvet cake before so I did not know it had to be ENTIRELY cooled otherwise the color would bleed into the frosting. So it looked horrible. He asked for a soccer alarm clock and the store that always carried them before cut back on their selection of alarm clocks and were not selling those anymore. Then, the straw that broke his back was this: he was hitting tennis balls off the wall of our gym at church. A little friend ran in front of him and it was too late for Mark to stop. He pegged this friend in the arm. The friend SCREAMED. And rightly so, Chris has received a hit from one of Mark's tennis balls and he's gone down. It was bad enough that the little friend was crying, but then an adult got on to him. It broke his heart.
So he was pretty defeated by the end of the night. But we came home and sang happy birthday to him anyway, he blew out candles anyway, and he accepted his "other" alarm clock anyway. Because no matter how badly your day goes, life marches on--anyway.
But I hope he learned a lesson from today. On his 14th birthday I hope he learned that while you can't choose your circumstances you can choose how you will react to them. That even if the world is rough you can still come home to a family that will cheer for you. That no matter how bad it looks cake still tastes the same as long as you close your eyes.
He sat with me after his brothers went to bed. HE let me hug him for a long time, and he said "I'm glad God gave you to me as my mommy." Even though he's 14 he still calls me mommy. And you know what I said? "I'm glad God gave you to me as my first born son."
Good days or bad days, my life wouldn't be the same without him. Thank YOU God for loaning Mark to me. I pray we have many more years to react to.
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