I told him how his strength has taught me to be strong. How this journey has made my love for him stronger and my appreciated for waking up each morning greater.
Then I cried a few tears. And for once, on the eve of his birthday, they were tears of joy. I cried tears of joy because we survived. Because this past year was so amazingly free, having had a total of zero hospitalizations and only two out patient surgeries.
We got a taste of what life should really be like without our little lamb and I know that this is only the start. So my tears were also for our future happiness and freedom and simply having faith that there would be happiness in the future.
Yesterday I sang Liam happy birthday at 5 am when he woke up from a bad dream. He fell back to sleep with a smile on his face. We went and bought cake. One for his birthday party and one for the 4 of us after dinner.
Liam got the Mario party he'd been asking for. Both cakes in the Mario theme. I took him to Adventure Park where he played arcade games to his hearts desire, ate pizza, drank soda, ate cupcakes, and won prizes.
He had a blast, exactly what he deserved. After dinner of his choice (more pizza), he opened presents. We bought him a Mario backpack and lunch pail for school. He got a Mario and a Luigu action figure. A Mario cup, Mario movie. Liam was excited.
Sister gave him a goody gift bag filled with a Thomas movie, Thomas book, and several little toys. We also put together a minion gift bag with a reusable minion bag, two minions that light up and three pairs of minion socks. And just like a normal boy he held the socks up, made a eww noise then tossed the socks aside. We laughed.
I may not have pulled off the big extravagant party I really wanted to throw him, but I learnt that he had everything he wanted and more with just a few friends and cake. It was perfect.
