My Life's Work

... not really. One of my favorite recent quotes has to do with how as we age, the things we want winnow themselves down, distilling into a smaller and smaller list. All I want from life now is for my family to be happy, and for my choices to reflect my faith in God.

But Mrs. L has given me a new piece of information, something else to work with!

I met her (mumble) birthdays ago. She has never liked her birthday. I mean, she's actually very happy that she was born, has the best, most cheery and glad outlook on being alive. It's just the timing. The logistics of it. Being close to Christmas brings its own set of joys and problems. For Jenni, I think it's been mostly problems.

I have taken it upon myself to make her Birthday happy. Fun. Festive. Every year, I've tried something else. I've tried to minimize my celebration, so she feels like we are concentrating on her instead. Tried to get friends or family to come, to participate. But I see now I may have been working against myself.

When she wrote this (about how she needs her party to not be bigger than mine), I realized immediately what I needed to do. A new direction for one of my life's many tasks.

I need to have a big, fun, family and friends party for me, to set the "scope" of what we can do for Jenni. But it seems silly to have two big parties right next to each other.

So not only do I need to set a high benchmark of a party, I need to have my party several months before hers!

You are all officially invited to come to my house for a burgers and hot dogs potluck cookout birthday on the last Saturday of August, 2010. I'm a grown-up, I can pick a different day to celebrate my being alive if I want to.