Party Planner

As a young woman, it was my oldest sister who decorated for every birthday. I was the one who planned get-togethers. My mom was the one who made the food. In the family I am raising, I have filled all three of those rolls for so long, I forget how much easier it is to do fun things with family and friends when I'm not doing it on my own.

My oldest daughter wanted to have an end-of-summer party with her gal pals. I gave my consent, and she took off from there. She motivated an entire day's worth of housework, because she wanted to host it at her own home. She made cookies from scratch. She called up her friends, and then called them to remind them.

In the end, only a few of her friends made it. They had a lovely time, all the same. They played games, and played outside, and just sat around talking and visiting. The girls even stayed for dinner, and then I dropped them off back home. 

As it turns out, for one of the girls, it was the first time at a friend's house doing "normal" kid stuff since March. She has been in the hospital and at physical therapy and all kinds of craziness no eleven-year-old should have to do. She was just glad to be back in the groove of ordinary for one evening. My daughter was very attentive to her, and made sure everything they did was something this girl could participate in.

I am grateful for a fellow party planner. I am actually excited about having someone else in my family who likes to throw a good shindig, and who will help out, or even do it all herself! I haven't been doing much partying lately, or getting-together, or shindigging...just trying to keep up with the humdrum stuff, not much energy for anything else. I suspect this will change. I am grateful for people who like us enough they want to come over and hang out. We are blessed to have so many friends. And I am grateful for a daughter who is thoughtful and caring, who invests so much in making other girls her age feel good about themselves.

What are you blessed with today?