A Spring of Joy

Wednesday morning, Hurricane Micah blasted into our room shouting, “I’m four!” at the top of his lungs. And the day progressed from there. How is it possible that it’s been so long since our imaginative, creative little treasure came into our lives? It seems like just yesterday that those dimples made their appearance and my heart melted a little bit more.

Bear had quite a day for himself, and Asher and Audrey certainly enjoyed the ride along with him. For starters, their babysitter for the day was Miss Sarah, our sweet friend from youth group who was home on college break. Sarah started helping our family out once a week with cleaning and babysitting when I was pregnant with Audrey, and she has become one of my children’s favorite people (and mine, too). As the kids were elbow deep in sculpy clay with Miss Sarah, the door opened again to reveal Aunt Bethy and heaven had come to our home.

Beth is my best friend from college and brings delight with her into every room. This time she also brought balloons and other treasures for my children to enjoy. Lunch for the kids was a trip to McDonald’s with Sarah and Beth to celebrate Micah’s birthday. Apparently, the ice cream machine was broken, they didn’t get the Happy Meal toys they wanted, and the door was locked to the playground, so it wasn’t quite the celebration Beth had envisioned. In true Bear fashion, nothing phased Micah. He was just so happy to be with people and be loved. (Perspective note: we could all learn a lot from a four-year-old boy.)

After some rest time, life exploded again with more Sarah-fun. Then Miss Tiffany walked through the door bearing more gifts. (Somewhere in there, Justin, Jacquie and Nora stopped by with more balloons, but I slept through that.) Follow that by Grandma and Grandad’s arrival, and life couldn’t get any better for Bear. Until…. Miss Amanda brought the cake. Unable to bake one myself this year, I enlisted the aid of my devotee, and she answered the call. It was a cowboy hat for a little boy who said all he wanted for his birthday this year was a chocolate cake and a cowboy costume.

Spaghetti for supper–a Micah-must-have every year–with bread, of course. Micah holds fast to the belief that man could live by bread alone. Then the birthday celebration. We lit the candles and Micah informed us that he did not need to sing “Happy Birthday”; he would just listen. He was so serious while we sang, but he was so excited to eat cake and open presents.

A lego dump truck, a Disney Memory game, remote-controlled trains for his geo-tracks, and then…. the cowboy costume. He put it on right away and let Asher carry the canteen.

Some highlights of the night:
–Asher calling himself Micah’s porter (where in the world does he get this stuff?!).
–Audrey’s spaghetti sauce and chocolate covered face.

–Grandaddy tried on Micah’s cowboy hat and asked how he looked. Micah’s response? “You look like a faaaaaaaahn may-un” (that’s “fine man” for those of you that don’t speak southern).

I struggled throughout the day with feeling so sad that I couldn’t be doing all the things I wanted to for Micah… decorate the house, shop for presents, bake and decorate his cake, really celebrate with zest. But watching him last night, it hit me once again how selfish I am. This isn’t about me and that’s what I was doing. I was making Micah’s birthday day about me and all the things I wanted for him. He didn’t care who made the cake or the spaghetti. He didn’t care who bought the plates or presents. All he cared about was being with the people he loved and celebrating his birthday. Well, he cared about the cake and presents, too.

And last night, as we snuggled in my bed and read Little Pilgrim’s Progress, we got to the chapter where Christian was scared of the lions. Micah was in awe. Now he can’t wait to get to the part with the dragon. Oh, my little imaginative blessing. Happy birthday, dear Bear. I pray we are blessed with many, many more years of you!