Happy Birthday Week

The night before Kaleb’s birthday every year, we fill hundreds of balloons (thanks to our air compressor) and put them in his room after he’s gone to sleep. The idea is that he wakes up to a room full of balloons on his birthday, but inevitably he sleepwalks in the middle of the night and crawls into our bed. He loves the tradition so we still do it, but it would be nice if just once he stayed in his own bed for the night. Balloons usually float around the house until after Christmas every year but they make Kaleb happy and they give him something to play with, so we won’t be stopping that tradition anytime soon. He had a wonderful birthday, as usual, as we had the lunch with the neighbors and they watched him open his gifts. We got him a Wii this year so he was thrilled. Technology has replaced toys which I appreciate because they don’t take up as much room in the house but they sure cost more. Raising kids ain’t cheap.


This week was much about Kaleb. He had a day off school on Monday for his birthday then Tuesday he completed his science course and got a 93% for his final grade. Pretty impressive, I say. He started a new class on Earth and Space Science with Johns Hopkins yesterday so we’ll see how he does on that one. He’s always “inventing” things so studying science gives him a lot of good information. I love watching his brain at work. I’m also now loving to watch his fingers work as he tickles those ivories on the piano and plays beautiful music! He had his first piano recital last night and did very well. I don’t know why I’m so surprised by his talents and abilities, but I am. It’s just so shocking to me that he came out of my body and he’s actually GOOD at stuff.


We’ve had incredibly cold weather this week which really highlighted all the hot and cold spots in our house. Our furnace does not distribute the heat evenly so we have rooms that are too hot to stay in long and others that are like a walk-in freezer. Keeping doors closed helps, but that’s a discipline that’s tough for a little boy to remember. I’m glad it’s warming back up again as I hate being cold. Kory has appreciated the crisp days and has been outside doing yard work but I’m happy to sit inside and address Christmas cards. Some days I feel there is no time to just enjoy life - that it’s all just about getting stuff done. I hate that, but this time of year comes with quite a bit of stuff that really needs to be done.


I went to two fabulous cookie exchanges this week and they both (unfortunately) contributed to my waistline in a marvelous and tasty way. I was able to have some female chit-chat time, something I lack on a day-to-day basis around here, and I realized while being able to verbalize some things, that I just need to be done grieving Norway. It’s time to get out of my pit and accept that life is what it is here on the Ridge and start looking for things I enjoy about that – like the flocks of Trumpeter Swans that fly overhead each day or the sliver of orange that peeks out between the gray clouds at sunset or the way the ice formed a beautiful protective shell over the fountain in our pond this week. Each day there are blessings and small miracles and my eyes just need to see them and not the piles of laundry or trail of books Kaleb leaves throughout the house. I am blessed, and I know it, but in Norway, I felt so spoiled. But as my Daddy used to say, “This too, shall pass.” He meant it to comfort me over bad things, but it’s also true of good things – they don’t last forever either. Today would have been his 77th birthday.