I’m back into birthday season again. All of our kids birthday’s are within three and a half months, so it does feel like a season that comes, and then goes. And, this is a significant year; one that reminds me just how precious it is to be surrounded by my children. One that inspires me to take the time to celebrate each of them.

My oldest son is becoming a teenager!

The memory of holding my firstborn in my arms, just after his birth, is so vivid. And like so many parents who have gone before me I wonder, “Where has the time gone?” I cannot believe that thirteen years have passed.

This week, I’ve been scurrying around the city preparing for the big day. Living overseas, no birthday party is ever alike. Party foods and supplies are limited, if available, so I go from store to store, piecing together what I can find. And with friends from all over the globe, people come and go faster than you can imagine, so invites go out to different friends for each event. Every year has it’s own flavour. When I think back to his birthday last year, we had just returned to Asia from our tour across Canada and were scrambling to pull together a celebration with people we were still getting to know.

Thanks to our welcoming and easy-going community here, we were able to pull off a good party. This year will be even better as Bamboo Shoot is inviting friends that he now considers close. They have spent time at each other’s homes, attended classes as a group and helped make one another’s birthday’s special.

But in the midst of the excitement, I pause and reflect. I need to. To be thankful for my son, for the ways he has grown and matured, for the experiences he has had, the challenges he has wrestled through and the wisdom that he is gaining, and to think about all the years that have gone by.

Thirteen years! I ask myself, “Have I spent these precious years well?” Days jumble together and time seems to move so slowly, but then I look back in wonder at how quickly it has disappeared.

Am I taking time to savour the simple moments? A big smile from my nearly teenager when everything in life seems good and right, a bouncy hug from my middle boy just any old time, or a walk through the park with my carefree daughter?

And digging deeper, in those moments am I slowing down and connecting with my children. Am I modelling my priorities and my values to them?

I see so many missed opportunities. How often the need to get the next job done has caused me to overlook those simple yet incredibly important snapshots of life. Sometime I wish I could go back, confident that I could do better the second time. But then I would have to erase all of the beautiful moments in between, the memories that make our family.

Here we are last year during ‘Birthday Season’, making a memory.  The final, long leg of our road trip across Canada, from Sault-Ste. Marie to my hometown of Goodrich, Ontario, fell on Panda’s birthday. I wish I could say I found a way to make it fun, but looking back, I think I did the opposite. I let him unwrap his gift but for fear of the little Lego pieces getting lost amongst our luggage that was crowded in around the kids, I didn’t let him open it until the following day. So he sat and stared at the box for the full nine hour drive! Stopping at Tim Horton’s for this Stanley Cup donut helped redeem the day, but the real highlight was the end of the trip. Despite being in the very back seat, he was the first one out of the van, flying to the door to give Grandma, whom he hadn’t seen in well over a year, one of his wonderful bouncy hugs!

Even with all the moaning and asking, “How much longer”, that birthday comes up in conversation, surrounded by smiles and laughter, more than any other. And while I hope this upcoming birthday is more of a success, I remind myself that in the midst of everyday life, in the midst of my own imperfections, we are creating memories.

Especially during Birthday Season!