Johnnie Turns 8

Today is obviously a big day for Johnnie and by extension, for me as well. He turned 8 years old today after all. And he was so excited to be bringing his goodie bags to school to share with his classmates. Not to mention the chocolate donuts too. As soon as we got to school, some of his classmates were already greeting him Happy Birthday, particularly his friend James who was just saying Happy Birthday to you over and over. Well, at least we couldn't say nothing happened for his birthday today. Last year I was afraid that he didn't think his birthday was celebrated, hence I took him to Pitfire Pizza and invited Brooklyn and Bailey. Today I didn't think it was necessary. After all, he gets a party on Sunday and Brooklyn and Bailey are invited, as well as a couple of the neighborhood kids. And I know I'm going to need to do appetizers, and the big salad, and get the piñata and the cake and so on and so on and so on. It was nice to see him get some attention this morning although that really isn't Johnnie's problem. Some of the staff even agreed when I told them of what he was like 3 years ago when he started TK and he was really mopey and sad his first week of school. Look at him now. They mentioned a whole bunch of kids gravitate towards him even. Anyway I knew he was going to have a good day in school. And so on I went to my day at work-from-home LOL. Today I had the option of meeting with the Penelope implementation people in the morning or do team meetings. I decided not to do either LOL. I decided I would just do another touch base with NACHC. After all, I still had to go to the East Third Health Center after lunch to get my flu shot. Yes I know it's a slog, but hey it's Thursday right? I have nothing better to do in the afternoon. In fact, I ended up eating lunch right before taking off for E3 and while I was doing my NACHC meeting. And then after I got the flu shot, which took all of 5 minutes, I stuck around simply because the onramp to the 60 on my side of the street was closed. Might as well stop at Taco Bell for a taco and get gas. I turned that into a Mexican pizza (two lunches today?), got gas, and went home. I was all ready to pick up Johnnie and just chill in the hot tub until Lisa called to pick him up. Tonight I am fully prepared to drive him to her house no matter how late. Except of course she flipped the script yet again. I picked up Johnnie, got him through Spanish class and made him dinner. He chose homemade spaghetti instead of going out. Fancy that. And so I made myself some chicken for dinner too. And then Lisa called. At 6:30 PM! Really early for her. She asked to meet her at her house so Johnnie could open some presents. She even mentioned she had a couple of steaks marinating if I wanted to have dinner. Why does she not tell me these things in advance I wonder?? Now I end up having 2 dinners as well. BUT I wasn't going to mention anything. I'm just grateful we will not be having the shout fest that we did a week ago. And so I pack Johnnie up quickly, foregoing our hot tub time. And when we got to her house, we got there at the same time as she did. We all went in together and SURPRISE SURPRISE SURPRISE. There was an entire birthday spread on the dining room table and a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY AREA with balloons and present and everything. We come to find out Lisa had nothing to do with any of this, though she did bring presents from folks in her office. OF COURSE Johnnie lived it up. We were amazed. Turned out Blanca her house cleaner did all this. I was very much moved. This was not some little deal. And this was for OUR son. And all of a sudden I may have felt a bit underwhelmed at how little I had done all day after all LOL. Even Lisa got him a present which just came from Amazon. Johnnie was way too occupied with getting all these Pokemon cards he really REALLY wanted. Nothing takes the place of the smiles and joyful shrieks Johnnie did while opening presents. I was focused on cooking up the steaks Lisa had. I ended up searing it, but then the insides were practically raw. So much so we had to cook it again. My second dinner such as it were. I couldn't have been happier at how much Johnnie enjoyed today. And his birthday festivities were not over just yet. We still have the weekend to go. But I went home tonight very much light-hearted and very much feeling the love my son experienced. Happy Birthday Johnnie. Happy Birthday my son. I love you.