Mom's birthday

My birthday is tomorrow. I've never liked birthdays. I don't know why - I just never have and now that I'm a Mom it is a source of conflict. My kids can't understand why I'm not excited about it and I can't get beyond the fact that I really am not a birthday person. I don't think there is anything wrong with not being excited about a birthday. Perhaps to me, the person who should be celebrating is the Mom who gave birth. I mean when you think about it, the person who really should be honored is the woman who gave birth. What did I as the child do - take a trip down the birth canal, live comfortably with all the food I wanted for 9 months ... really - I think it should be "happy you gave birth-to-day" and for that, I'd be more than happy to celebrate a day for each of my kids.

A mom's "you gave birth-to-day" day would come with a party bag that included sleep, dinner in a restaurant without 6 trips to the bathroom, toilet paper on the roll, and laundry that is clean and put away. The cake would come without frosting and ice cream, but have a silky, creaminess to it that just melts in your mouth - or maybe be made of vegetables like carrots! - the party games would be defined by a contact sport, the drinks would not come in boxes but in bottles - chilled, and the gifts would not be tangible, but uplifting to the heart and the soul. Yes, I imagine that if I got to celebrate "you gave birth-to-day" I'd be more excited and more inclined to honor the day.

But for now, I guess I'll get my few hours of sleep before I have to drop the kids off, drop off Brian, pick up the dry cleaning, sign the kids up for camp, check in at work, pick up cupcakes, pick up the kids, have lunch, take cupcakes to school to celebrate Nicholas' 3rd birthday (which by all accounts should really be my "happy you gave birth-to-day" , but i didn't get to pick out the cupcakes), defuse arguments from cranky kids, pick up Brian, and oh yea - celebrate the day for me .....