Her party was for two of clock in the afternoon until whenever. She’d hoped to hang out, play basketball and football, play games, and sit around the fire pit with her friends. Well, you can imagine her disappointment.

Later in the evening, I went and picked up a couple friends of hers from youth group, so she ended up having a couple young people there. Before that, it was just family, which is the reason for this post.

As a mother, it’s so hard to watch, so difficult to find the right words to say…to know IF and when to say them, etc. Needless to say, she ended up crying on Saturday…on Sunday…yesterday.

Saturday was her supposed “friend” party, and Sunday was kept for her family. On Sunday, the kids and I were all at the table singing “Happy Birthday” to her, and all the while, she’d been fighting back tears, and they weren’t tears of joy.

There she was with her family around her, and at that moment, it was as if that’s “all” that would EVER be around her on her birthday, which opened the floodgates of her feelings.

It’s good to have family as friends, but it’s even better when you have family AND friends. For some reason, it’s hard for Carolyn to find “good” friends, friends who stand by you no-matter-what…friends that don’t stab you in the back…friends that show up for your birthday party.

While we were singing, Kyle ended up making Carolyn smile, which chased the tears away. I happened to capture a before and after of that moment…priceless!

While sitting around the table, Carolyn talked about her disappointment, and Kyle said, “We should leave our birthday parties for just family.”

That was Sunday evening (a school night), and we stayed up till midnight playing games, laughing so much together. I love my kids so much, and I love our family so much!!