I still can't get use to the idea. The more I look at him, and see him playing with his friends the older he seems, though his emotions are never far from the surface and there are many occasions, often daily when I still want to wrap my arms around him and protect him from the tribulations of growing up. I have a feeling that this strong urge will never leave me.
We wanted to celebrate his birthday with a party, but trying to think of something that would entertain a group of 8-9 year olds mainly boys was difficult. We finally settled on a party in the woods, complete with bows and arrows, war paint, the making of head dresses, hot dogs, the toasting of marshmallows, a good old fashioned game of piñata all wrapped up with a water fight! The preparation for all of this started a good couple of weeks prior to the party and began to occupy any spare time we had, but all the work and the added stress of having to borrow cars to get to the woods as our car broke down three days before the party and then on the journey to the woods coming to a standstill on the road due to an accident and having to turn around when they closed the road and find an alternative route across the moors, only to eventually reach the woods an hour after setting out, and watching the excitement drain from our birthday boys face when we explained to him that there was a chance that his friends may not be able to reach the party, and then the joy when eventually 40 minutes after the party 'officially' started his first friends turning up, and the thankfulness that came flooding over me at the sheer determination of his friends parents to get their kids to the party was all worth it when he friends described the party as 'Epic'!
Yes indeed I think it was Epic, a day full of emotions and a day full of memories that won't be forgotten in a long while.
