One Candle Only Please

111
Originally uploaded by podso

Well here it is, proof of our 111 degrees today. I've lived in hot places like Africa and Florida, and it's never been as hot as it was today. This was the thermometer outside my kitchen window, in mostly shade late this afternoon. This morning it was 103 there in full shade. It's wilting for sure, and zaps my energy. Nonetheless I made a special dinner to celebrate our firstborn's 29 years with us. It was a treat to have our second son home at the table too. I made the birthday boy's favorite: chicken marsala (well, he'd prefer veal, but too costly), browned small potatoes, carrots, those rolls that pullapart easily, and for dessert, Tiramisu, a new favorite of his. (I was surprised. I learned this new love from his girlfriend.) Thankfully I found a simple version and it actually tasted good. We only put one candle on the cake to keep the heat down.

As I watched him laughing as he unwrapped a can of asparagas (I don't cook it, but he loves it so always gets a can on birthdays or Christmas--it's become a joke), my mind grazed over his eventful 29 years and I thought of all the things that worked together to make him the man he is today. His early love of books and animals; art and music and cars ... homeschooling and all the books we read aloud together ... travel on every continent but Asia ... sending him off to Australia on his own to learn a bit of life ... how thankful we are for who our son is on this his special day. We actually lingered at the table, talking. Moments like these get tucked away in a mother's heart. A week from today we do this all over again, for second son. They were born two years and four days apart. What gifts to us!

Now for a cool shower before bed!