Hijacked!

Yesterday was my birthday. For days Loverman asked what I wanted to do on my special day, and I kept assuring him I just wanted a nice quiet day with him and the kids. I meant it having just returned from five days out of town co-facilitating a digital storytelling workshop.

The day started just as I envisioned with the opening of birthday cards and gifts. Loverman then fixed a great breakfast and I got ready to go the day spa for a relaxing mani-pedi. Later in the afternoon, we’d be heading to Allyson’s for little birthday bar-b-que.

As I was getting in the car to go to the day spa, Olivia ran up to the car window with her friend, Jessica, asking if Jessica could join us for dinner at Allyson’s. My internal response was—“NO!” because I didn’t want the responsibility of keeping an eye on someone else’s kid on my birthday, but of course I couldn’t say all of that with the dear girl standing right in front of me, so I sucked it up and said, “Sure.”

When I returned home, completely Zen-ed out from mani-pedi, Jessica and Olivia were checking out a movie in the living room. Yannick was nowhere in sight. Loverman explained that Yannick was playing with Jeffrey (Jessica’s younger brother) at Jeffrey’s house. About a half an hour later, Yannick and Jeffrey popped into the kitchen, both sucking on juice pouches. Before I could even ask what they were up to, Yannick asked if Jeffrey, too, could join us at Allyson’s. Again… what the heck was I supposed to say with Jeffrey standing right there? For the second time on my special day, I sucked it up and said, “Sure.”

Really, what could I do? Fortunately, both Jessica and Jeffrey are nice, polite and absolutely no trouble. It’s just my nice, quiet birthday with family seemed to be morphing into a totally different scene than I’d anticipated. That’s right, a pair of 7 and 10 year olds just hijacked my birthday plans.

So, I called Jessica and Jeffrey’s parents assured them we’d be home before 10 and wished them a nice evening alone, without the kids. Lucky them!

To be honest, everything worked out fine. I had a great time. The four kids were no trouble. In fact, I’m sure Jessica and Jeffrey’s presence kept the kids out of our hair and everyone was happy and able to enjoy themselves. But, believe me… one of the first things I’m going to do today is have a conversation with Olivia and Yannick about the importance of checking in with us prior to extending invitations to their friends.