Marina's 6th Birthday

Marina's Birthday Theme: Super Girl. "Mom, I want a Super Girl Cake." Here it is:

Alaskan winters make me pause to reflect on time. It is the long nights ending in reaching sunrises that take an hour or more. It is the sunsets that are achingly slow. The color of our world becomes so grey in December, with snow and sanded roads and trees without leaves. Then the sun rises and for an hour or so there is a brilliant display of color and then it passes back to shadows of grey and white.

The baby in our family is now 6 years old. When I think of the days that have passed since I was a pregnant person chasing around a three year old Falcom...I laugh when I think of how I had to wing him over my shoulder when he had a melt down in the middle of Soundview Avenue during my ninth month of pregnancy.

This morning Marina woke me at 4am to say, "I love you mom! I love you for putting streamers all over my room! Now I know why you wanted me to go to sleep! I love you! I think I will be your snuggle bug." and then she realized Vince was home from Soldotna. "Dad! You made it!" and he hugged her and he told her that he was remembering that it was 6 years ago to the hour that he was sleeping in a hospital room holding the tiny baby that is now a 6 year old Marina. She didn't even have a name yet.

The darkness makes me more reflective I guess. It made me realize how time has stopped in a way. Events have blended, changes have been a slow evolution. This morning, Marina asked me to cut the tag from her new pants. They are just a bit too long and when I look at the size (size 7-8) I am reminded that time will continue to move us along, and that this life I have been given has been packed full of bright fantastic moments.

We started the birthday with a birthday breakfast. Then Vince and I brought cupcakes to school and her classmates sang "Happy Birthday" to her. She was wearing a special ribbon that said "Happy Birthday". We stayed for a round of holiday Bingo.

After school we went to the high school, where we reserved the pool for a small party. I asked everyone to RSVP who was coming so that I could hire the correct amount of lifeguards, but alas! More people came than I had planned for. It was really an extravaganza. Every gift was EXACTLY what she had wanted. (Priscilla hadn't realized she was registered.)

Because there were more people than I had anticipated, there was NOT ENOUGH FOOD! You can not imagine how Mid-West anxious I felt at not having the crowd leave stuffed full! Oh well. None, of these children are wasting away, luckily.

I read a Christmas card last month that said, "Do you think that when Jesus was a young boy in Hebrew school his classmates said, 'Gosh Jesus, it must suck having your birthday so close to Hanukkah!'" I should have bought it for Marina. But today, she was showered with gifts and for a few hours felt out of the holiday spirit and into the birthday spirit which was our goal to begin with.

Thanks to everyone who came, she (and I) had a birthday to remember.