Disasters Could not Ruin this Party

So later in the week, when I get a chance to edit all of my photos, I’m going to write an awesome post about my children’s amazing birthday party with all of their favorite friends and family. But first… The dangers of putting your guard down.

I have this neurotic, paranoid, stupid idea that if I worry about every possible problem, every possible wrong-doing, every possible thing that could potentially go wrong at any given moment, nothing bad will happen. It’s stupid, completely irrational, and based on nothing other than the fact that usually when I dwell on the awful possibilities, I realize that life is pretty damn good! It helps me to appreciate all that I am fortunate to have when I consider what could potentially go wrong.

We scheduled my children’s joint birthday party (my daughter’s 5th and my son’s 3rd) at a local park. The park had several pavilion options based on size/location, so I picked the location closest to the parking, bathroom, and playground. We began to set up the tables for food and crafts, and all of a sudden, wasps surrounded us. Apparently we must’ve somehow stirred up a wasps’ nest. This was not good. A friend called the city to make sure we were able to move to another pavilion, and we did, but of course it was much further from everything we wanted. Still, we set up at the new location, our friends and family joined us, and everything was great…

Until it wasn’t.

I don’t want to write out the details, but there was a burglary at the party.  Nobody was harmed (or even saw the perpetrator), but extensive theft and damage was done. It sucks to know that there was a criminal at your children’s birthday party, feet away from where all the kids were happily, innocently playing together. It hurts to know that people have so little respect for one another and their community, that they would steal from someone having a fun day with family and friends. It’s a reminder that sometimes, maybe even often, my nagging neuroticism is warranted. Disasters do happen, but I let my guard down to enjoy my children’s birthday party.

And I’ve decided that is okay. 

So today, I’m thankful that even though a whole bunch of things went wrong, everyone was not only physically safe, but they had a great time! Food was good (and plentiful). The kids loved crafting, running around together, and playing on the playground. Everyone decorated cupcakes (the theme was “Cupcake Wars”) and my children were showered with wonderful gifts. We celebrated all that is beautiful about life and childhood innocence and love. No thief could take that away from my amazing children and those who surrounded us with their awesome presence.