Our children’s birthday parties are a big deal at our house. The girls, of course, love turning a year older (ah, youth!) and look forward to celebrating the momentous occasion. I blame it on my background in event planning at a PR firm, but I start months in advance thinking about a theme and then obsess about the rest of the details – invitations, food, activities, decorations, favor bags – until the guests walk through our door the day of the party.
We decided more than a month ago to celebrate our youngest daughter’s birthday last Saturday with a backyard circus, complete with a clown-themed bouncy house, face painting, “circus” food such as hot dogs and popcorn, and goodie bags stuffed with things like Cracker Jacks and red foam clown noses.
The week leading up to the party had been a particularly busy one, with lots of things I had to do which took away from preparing the last-minute event details and cleaning the house. By Thursday, I was really feeling the stress and vowed that next year, I would call the local skating rink or athletic club like everyone else does and have THEM plan our kids’ birthday parties.
Then on Friday afternoon, I received the phone call everyone dreads. My parents were on their way to our daughter’s celebration when they had a car accident on the interstate, one of the busiest roadways in this region of the country. When they topped a hill, they discovered a car had stopped completely in the left lane of the freeway and there was no way to stop in time.
Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt in any of the three cars involved in the accident. My parents have burns from the air bags, stiff necks and an injured foot – but we’re so thankful they were able to walk away. Few people can do that from an interstate wreck.
Their car was brand-new at the time of the accident – with only 200 miles on it – and it will be an inconvenience and a hassle to repair it. But cars can be fixed. People are irreplaceable.
The lesson from this weekend’s crash course in life appreciation is to never take anything for granted. Things can change in an instant, and we need to be grateful for the time we have with the people in our lives and thankful for the gift of another day.
At the very least, it put my week in perspective and I learned that in the grand scheme of things, birthday party stress is very insignificant. Our five-year-old daughter and her friends had a great time at Saturday’s event, and I was more appreciative than ever to have our extended family – most especially my parents – with us to celebrate.
1 comment:
I am so glad they're ok! A similar reminder of what's important happened to me the night of my high school reunion. I was driving to the post-event party and was a split second away from hitting a huge deer right in front of a bridge. I swerved left instinctively. Luckily there was no oncoming traffic. If there had been, I might have swerved into them - or swerved right, which would have led me down a steep embankment. I was shaken, but so incredibly grateful that God took that moment ot remind me that He had bigger things for me to worry about than my social calendar. Elliot's sister had an eventful high school reunion, too. On her way out of the house, she was carjacked at gunpoint and forced to take the man to an ATM, where she withdrew a large sum of money for him. She was released, but spent the night with the police, not old friends. Yes, life can change in an instant. We are so blessed to have the time that we do with those we love.
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