My 17 Year Old's Birthday

It was my oldest son's 17th Birthday today.  I love birthdays and try to make each one of my children feel especially loved on their very special day.  It gets harder and harder the older they get to make birthdays fun - unless of course was I rent a Corvette for my oldest to drive for the day; give my second oldest all the latest and greatest snowboard gear; and buy round trip tickets to New York to see a few Broadway plays for my daughter.  But, a millionaire I am not.  I think the things I can do for them though, is pretty special too.  And at the end of the day today, my son thought he'd had a great birthday.

The things my oldest son likes are cars, food, sleep and money.  So those are the things I focused on for this birthday.  His gifts?  All money.  He loved that!  That kind of gift puts him one step closer to his ultimate purchase - a "cool" car.

Next, sleep.  He had a doctor's appointment this morning to have some stitches removed from a minor in office surgery he had last week on his scalp.  When he got home, his head was sore, the school day was almost half over and he wasn't missing anything at school today anyway so I let him stay home.  He curled up on the couch with a fluffy pillow and an afghan from his Grandma Berniece and he slept and slept.  Watched a little TV and slept some more.  When he woke up, he looked the most refreshed I've seen him in weeks.

Next, food.  Waiting for him when he woke up was his favorite dinner - a steak burrito and root beer from Chipotle.  I made sure I had it made just the way he likes it.  Complete with the "white stuff".....sour cream.

Nothing says love to my oldest son more than bringing him or making him has favorite food!

We also have a birthday tradition (with food) that all of my kids look forward to no matter how old they get.  We ALWAYS have a Dairy Queen cake complete with candles.  Today was no exception.

Once his nap, his lunch, his DQ treat and school were over, his buddies all wanted to hang out with him so I followed him out the door to his car.  I wanted to see his reaction when he took a look at what I had done to it.

I wish I could have taken a picture of his expression.  He got a huge smile on his face, laughed and said, "You've got to be kidding me!"  I knew he loved it!  (I had planned on doing this to his car in the school parking lot but it worked just as well in our driveway.)

We should all feel special and loved every day but especially on the day we came into this world!

"Your birthday is a special time to celebrate the gift of you to the world."  -Unknown