Happy 14th Birthday Mackenzie!

Today is Mackenzie’s 14^th birthday! What?! When, oh when did that happen? I was thankful for a day that was too busy to dwell on this fact.

We started out at freshman orientation. Can I just say what a surreal experience it is to sit in the same classroom I sat in during high school, in front of the same teacher? So very, very strange and also wonderful.

We jetted from there back home to pick up the rest of the gang. As if it weren’t bad enough that Mackenzie has to go for a check up on her birthday, to a male doctor, who’s no longer her doctor; she also has to have her brothers tag along so they can all get the flu vaccination which just happened to come in the day I called and asked.

All 5 kids, plus me in a tiny exam room is not anyone’s idea of a good time. Thankfully, we’ve been there for 14 years now and they know us. The nurse took the boys into another room for their flu mist while the doctor examined Mackenzie. Everyone came through relatively unscathed.

The original plan was to take Mackenzie to orientation and then to lunch. Being on budget lockdown doesn’t lend itself to taking all of us out to lunch.  As we left the pediatrician, I explained to the boys that because it is Mackenzie’s birthday, we were going to go through her favorite drive thru and pick up lunch for her…not for the rest of us.

They were understandably disappointed but handled it beautifully for the most part. Mackenzie, very graciously, did not eat it in front of all of them on the ride home. She also offered a fry to each of them.

She had made plans with friends to get together and do their nails before their first game of the season that afternoon. Ah, to be 14 again. Nails done…before a volleyball game….definitely a necessity at that age. I mean it is her birthday after all.

We met her at the gym for the game. On the way, I was thanking my lucky stars that the first season is volleyball, which means all the home games are free. Only, when we walked in the door, I discovered that this year, home games are not free.

Funny how perspective changes when income changes. If Nelson was still working, this would have surprised me, but I would have paid the admission price and moved on. Instead, I stood there stunned. Seriously, it was $10 for all of us, but this is still new and I wasn’t prepared.

Someone overheard me say, “What? I thought these games were free,” and paid for us before I could do anything. If God’s going to teach me anything, I feel a bit of humility is definitely on board…yuck. I managed a, “Thank you SO much. Let me pay you back,” which she refused and we both moved on.

Learning lessons is hard.

Mackenzie, you are an amazingly beautiful girl from the inside out. I love watching you grow and mature. I pray that your high school experience is wonderful and that you are able to use all the gifts God has given you. Happy Birthday girl! I love you!