There are many times as a Dad where I missed the mark or didn’t get it right. Not to brag, but I believe on Friday I got it right.
Side note: Ever notice when someone says, “not to brag” they are about to brag? It’s kind of like when people say, “I don’t mean to judge, but …” or “I’m not a racist, but …” or “I didn’t mean to use your toothbrush to clean the toilet, but …”
Anyway, back to my bragging (Don’t worry, you can brag about me later if you are worried about that) … on Friday, Evan celebrated his 11th birthday. He originally didn’t want a party, but then days before his birthday he decided he wanted one. It wouldn’t be a big deal, if birthday parties didn’t become such big deals!
Back in the day – it was friends, cake, presents and maybe a freaky clown that would give kids nightmares for years. It was great and we liked it! Now, they’ve become these elaborate events where you feel like you need pyrotechnics and a million dollar budget.
The only thing I can remember that was something beyond the normal for a birthday party when I was a kid is when me and my friends watched a bootlegged VHS copy of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” my Dad got from a friend. Nothing is more heartwarming than a potential felony involved in your birthday. Plus, I’m pretty sure we didn’t rewind the tape either.
Birthday parties somehow progressed to Chuck-E-Cheese (where a large rodent now scars children) to large events worthy of a professional party planner. For my daughter’s 8th birthday, she had some traveling animal act come by the house. It’s a long story, but the band Echoing Angels also came by the house and played for the kids. I’m sure they’ll never forget the gig where they opened for Coyote Chris and his hedgehog at little girl’s birthday party. They are pushing to be the headliner this year …
For Evan’s 10th birthday, we held it at an indoor water park. They pretty much ignored all the slides and played basketball in the pool. So this year, I said why don’t we just order pizza and you can play football in the backyard? Well, in order to sell it I said I would throw him a “kick butt football party”.
It didn’t take amazing planning. It wasn’t elaborate. I took a few hours and 7 cans of spray paint to turn my backyard into a football field. I have to say it looked pretty good – like a professional field, if a professional field had lots of weeds, dead grass and had to be pooper-scooped.
But Evan and his friends didn’t care – they loved it! They literally played until they couldn’t see anymore. One of his friends said it was the best birthday party he ever went to … they ate pizza and played football for 5 hours … no clowns, no water park, no animal act, just pizza and play.
I was reminded that the best moments and memories, very rarely are attached to things that are expensive or elaborate. Often times, it’s the simple things that show you love and care for them that have the biggest impact. I have a feeling he’ll remember this birthday – the day my dad made the backyard into football field – forever.
On Saturday, I looked into my backyard and saw a ripped apart lawn. Julie reminded me that someday we’ll look back there and it will look beautiful and pristine and we’ll long for the days of boys happily playing on it and ripping it apart.
The Eric Allen 