A Spring of Joy

In January, our oldest turned seven.
One day before I began treatment for my thyroid cancer.

Last January, our oldest turned six.
The same day as my last chemo treatment for my breast cancer.

Both years he had the flu for his birthday.

The poor kid can’t catch a break.

But he has never complained. (I’ve done all the complaining for him.)

This year, he started talking about his birthday party in October. This is the first year he’s had a party of his school and church friends. He dreamed, schemed, planned, and begged for a Star Wars party. The problem was I couldn’t do it… I had just had surgery. I was on medication that was slowly depleting my body of all my energy and causing severe depression. I was going to be in isolation.

And I was overwhelmed in my heart because I wanted so badly to give him what his heart desired. I wept over this. I ached for him. I ached for myself.

But Ash? He never cried. He only looked at me and said, “It’s okay, Mom. We’ll figure something out.” He is his daddy’s boy.

As time passed, I realized it was taking me longer and longer to rebound from this last treatment, and birthday party planning only heightened my stress. I longed to do it for him, but I couldn’t figure out how. Then my hero arrived in all her dark beauty. Monica. Listening to me on the phone, she said, “Let me do it. I’ll be there in 3 weeks for the weekend. Let’s throw him a party then. I’ll do it all.”

See, Monica understood me on a level that no one else could, because last year she was in the hospital when her oldest turned 5, and she couldn’t throw the party Laney wanted. Instead, Moni’s sister-in-law took over and threw the party for her.

And it was perfect.

So Moni took over and threw the party for me.

And two months after his birthday, Ash donned his new Darth Vader tee shirt, Bear cloaked himself in Luke’s hooded cape, Bella just sparkled like a princess, and we had a Star Wars Party. It was a fun-filled day complete with a Jedi Master, party games including a Jedi Obstacle Course, an ice cream cake, pizza, and friends.

And it was perfect.