May 18, 2015
We threw a party for Nicole for her 9th birthday five days before her actual birthday. It was an advanced celebration because her best friend sweetly requested that we move the party right before she would leave for New York. Because the birthday girl supported the idea, I said yes to this request. Who would want to celebrate a party without a bff on the side? Being an only child, Nicole has friends and only two cousins as close associates. It made a difference that Nicole’s best friend was there at her celebration. The party was a simple get together of Nicole’s closest friends. It was fun and happy. My husband said, he saw how happy our daughter was to be with the people she loves.
Nicky at her Roof Top Pool Deck Party
One Happy Girl
With her bff
With Ikina and Summer her BFFS
Nicky with her close friends
Her birthday Cake
On her actual birthday, we still wanted her to ‘feel’ special that her Dad got her a teddy bear bunch and a long letter very early in the morning. I on the other hand have scheduled several work meetings for the day so she was mostly on her own the whole day while we promised to celebrate her birthday the way she would like it at dinner.
Midway, I felt the urge to make her happier so I thought about surprising her with a grand gift. I asked her if I could fetch her so that we could go somewhere to buy her a surprise. I remember that she has been asking me for a polaroid camera for a while now. I was meaning to get her that and surprise her.
When I texted her this, she said “No Need Mommy” and I said “but why? I thought you like a camera? I want you to be happy, happier, happiest today because it is your birthday”.
I was blown away with her reply because she said “BUT I AM ALREADY HAPPY”.
I showed this message to a few friends and they all said the same thing, My Nicky is really a contented girl. Sometimes, we parents, in our wish to give the best to our children, we shower them with all the gifts our money can afford. We want to give them something in abundance because we ‘feel’ this will make them happy. In theory I have known this. That is the reason why I have trained Nicole to live simply and be thankful to God for all that we have. But there are days that I forget about this especially when I want to shower my daughter with so much love.
I thank the Lord for showing me that I have raised my daughter well. What makes her happiest are not really the gifts that she receives but the time we spend with her and the time her loved ones spend with her.
So we asked her what her birthday wish was and she said, she just wanted to be able to play with her cousin, eat pizza and have ice cream. She didn’t want to go out for dinner nor do anything fancy.
She just wanted to be with us and play. What a blessing Nicole is to us. 🙂
with her cousin celebrating with Pizza and Ice Cream on her birthday
The Life We Live 