Sitting in their car seat I used to read them books, they rode tricycles around the farm, and I often heard them yell “Ustine, Ustine, Come play with me!”
Now my two younger brothers are playing football, heading to school every day, doing their chores at night, and writing their own stories.
It's official...my little brothers are growing up! In fact (not only are they almost as tall as me), Ethan turned 11 and Aaron turned 13 (a teen) just a few days ago! This definitely deserved a celebration! So my older brother and I went home over the long weekend. On Sunday, we cleaned the kitchen and the living room, had the cake, the candles, the presents (Ethan’s favorite), and the games all ready! As I began to place the candles on the cake, I came to discover one HUGE problem.
See these candles were not ordinary candles, these candles were the letter candles and spelled out the words HAPPY BIRTHDAY.
I had just finished placing HAPPY on the top of the cake and as I began to put the next letter on, which as we all know was to be a B, I realized that the B candle had broke! AHHHHHHHH! I didn’t know what to do, it was almost time for the cake and we didn’t have the right candles. I became slightly frustrated and upset, how could the birthday party go right?
Soon my brothers came in the kitchen, saw what was wrong, and began to laugh. I realized that their day would not be even slightly a bit ruined if their cake was missing a candle. In fact, it was even better because now instead of saying they had a Birthday cake, THEY had an IRTHDAY cake (not many people get to say that). The evening went on with the traditional making a wish and blowing out the candles, opening of the presents, and card games of UNO and it was a fantastic IRTHDAY for them both.
Things are going to go wrong in our life, but there is no reason to fret or to worry. We’ve all heard before LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES and how true it is. You learn and you live on.
Sometimes we go about life worrying more than enjoying the gift of each and every day.
At times it may take the reminder of an 11 and 13 year old boy to help you see it too.
There may come a day that you get a flat tire, you miss your alarm, you lock your keys in the car, or you break a candle for a cake, but sometimes that’s what makes life interesting and as marvelous as it is… so HAPPY IRTHDAY to all of you!
