A Surprise Birthday Party! In A Way

Well, today took a turn. When I woke up this morning I'd already had a text from Lily asking if I was up. Seeing as how I was up when I read the text, I answered that yes, I was. She wanted to ask if I could possibly let them have Gibson's gathering here today because she hadn't had time to get her house in shape for a party and she still had food and a cake to make. 
Well, of course I said yes. 

I didn't do much to get ready. The house was already in pretty good order. Candie had been here on Tuesday and Mr. Moon and I are not messy people, really. All I was making was the queso which involves nothing more than chunking up Velveeta, nuking it, and mixing in some Rotel chili stuff. Lily and Lauren were bringing most of the rest of the snacks and a cake and Jessie brought a fruit salad and Rachel and Hank brought guacamole. Maybe something else, I don't know. And Kelly, mama of Wiley, brought some of her homemade spicy jam and a few other things, I believe. 

It all looked like this. 

Candie and her two youngest came, as well as Kelly and her husband and their boy, Wiley. May couldn't come because of work but her husband, Michael did, and I was so happy to see him. Levon and August had spent the night with their cousins so Lily brought them with her. The children were all ridiculously excited and Candie's two had never been here before but immediately recognized the perfect place for hide-n-seek as soon as they walked in and before two minutes had passed, all the kids were joyfully hiding and seeking and before too long, my True Inner MeeMaw found her voice.

"Y'all go play outside!" I said. And they did. Amazing. And I instantly felt a connection with all of the mothers who have ever lived and the grandmothers and their mothers too. 

So then they were wild outside and so was Sophie who'd come with Jessie and I have a feeling that a bunch of kids and one Labradoodle are going to sleep very well tonight. There was bamboo kicking and then playing with bamboo and before the afternoon was over, boys were hitting trees with sticks which in my experience is what boys do. 
Sophie was delirious with joy as all of the children chased her while she had a bamboo shoot in her mouth. What a great game! 
At one point I heard Magnolia June announce, "Kid Meeting! Kid Meeting inside!" and of course everyone trooped in after her for their kid meeting. Let me guess who led that meeting. 

Grown-ups visited and snacked and visited some more. I mostly sat outside and talked to Michael and also to Jessie and Owen who is becoming so very, very tall and guess what- Gibson is suddenly taller than I am. 
WTF? 
He just turned twelve. 
I think he really enjoyed his birthday party. Callissa, one of Candie's children, recently had a birthday too so she got to blow out the candles with Gibson, and her mother had brought some of her presents. Gibson got some good stuff but I think he liked what we gave him the most which was cold, hard cash. We didn't give him more than I would have spent on a present but he was incredibly impressed and pleased. I guess cash is a novelty these days. 

There wasn't much left to do after everyone left. They'd done clean-up and Sophie made sure that anything edible dropped on the floor was taken care of. So that was that. Fun and easy. For me, especially. I had to keep reminding myself that I really had no responsibilities which is a novel thought. Barely a night passes that I don't have a dream in which I am taking care of a child, protecting them from danger, worrying about them and usually, there are many other people I am responsible for feeding and finding beds for. This is so engrained in my very marrow that when I find myself in a situation where no one's health or happiness or survival depends on me, I really don't know what to do. 

The sweetest moment for me of the entire afternoon, though, was when Lily told me that every time she's in my bedroom, she sort of wishes she could stay there to recuperate from something with me taking care of her. "It's so light and airy, somehow," she said. "It's so comforting." 
I know what she means. It's a small room and a very simple room, but it is cozy and who doesn't sometimes long for a mother who would tenderly tend to them? 
Lily has been through a lot lately and she has had to be so strong and do all the hard grown-up things. 
I am grateful that my child feels that I could provide rest and comfort in times of trouble. I never felt that way about my own mother after I left home. Or, even before, truth be told. We did not have that sort of relationship. 
But I think I do with all of my children and besides that, I have this house, this magical old house. When Gibson was showing the house to the two children who had never been here before, he said, "This is the perfect grandmother house!" 
I am not now nor ever will be the perfect mother or grandmother but my heart and my house will always be open to my babies. And they know that. 

And even as I say that, I feel a smug sense of power, knowing that I told those children to go play outside and they did. 

As I said a few days ago, I am not nearly as nice as you probably think I am. Perhaps I am just finding my strength here in my older age which is fine as long as I am not sending the kids out to find switches for me to use on their butts. 
I don't think that's going to happen and if it does, please put me in a facility or get me a caretaker because I will truly have lost my mind. 

Meanwhile, here we are. 

Love from the grandmother's house...Ms. Moon