Birthdays…

Traditionally, I am very punctual when it comes to birthdays. If you’re going to get a card or a gift from me (and not everyone does, don’t be hurt…remember, I’m poor), you’ll get it on time. For some reason, I have a weird gift for remembering birthdays, and it’s important to me that people know that I love them and was thinking of them. I would like to brag about this gift and be especially proud of it, but that’s like being proud of having green/brown eyes, or long fingers, or moles. It’s just how I’m made. I don’t have to work at it. At all.

However, it seems like there’s a certain combination that can get me into trouble. Start with a winter/spring that kicked my ass, and threw me for a complete emotional loop. Add the fact that I now have not one, but 4 nieces and nephews. And lastly, in the midst of my crappy spring, I bought a brand new calendar, and neglected to transfer the birthdays from last year’s calendar to this year. (Even those of us with a gift like a little help now and again, am I right?) This combination led me to doing the unthinkable. I forgot my niece’s birthday. For some reason, I had it in my head that she and her brother were both born in August, just as my other niece and nephew were both born in September. Um, wrong. So, I emailed my step-mom and asked her for the dates, and when she told me, I realized, CRAP, I missed S’s 2nd Birthday! “Don’t worry Mama,” Maya told me, “S is just turning 2. She doesn’t care.” And she doesn’t. And neither does her mom, or anyone else. But I care. I feel like I’ve blown it, like somehow she’s getting the youngest niece/nephew treatment (even though she’s not the youngest…he turns 1 in September), and is somehow going to be scarred by it.

So, the day I realized the horrid error of my ways, I ran out to Target, looking for a gift for her. I called my sister, M, and asked what S is into these days. “Oh, this and that and the other thing, and Diego” she said, helpfully. Of course, the stupid store had neither this, nor that, nor the other thing. In desperation, I grabbed a pair of denim shorts with Elmo on them, thinking that might help. They were cute shorts, too, but just not quite right. But then, while looking for a book or coloring book that might fit her proclivity for all things Diego, I came across something that looked like it might work. A Diego backpack. Wait, I remember Maya getting a couple of backpacks in her toddler years, and her really liking them. OK, I’ll give it a shot. So I brought it home, wrapped it, and mailed it the very next day. (Can I just interject here and say that there is a TON of Dora stuff, and really, not much Diego. Not. Fair.)

Two days later, I got a call from M, who said that S was LOVING her gift. S said, “That’s Diego, and that’s Baby Jaguar, and it’s good!” Oh my. My heart melted. And after I hung up, I thought about a birthday party, with a pile of gifts, and a child opening them, and then being urged to open the next gift by an excited child, or a family member hoping that this party might possibly end before all of the toddlers go into full melt down mode, and I thought, Hmmm…maybe a late birthday gift is the way to go. She wasn’t expecting it. She got a package in the mail, and could put her full concentration on it, and loved it. She got to play with it, with no rush and no expectation and no pressure to move on to the next thing.

I may never give anyone a gift on time again.