May
3rd, 2006.
The photo above shows Jackson on every May 3rd of his life. Jackson's birthday started
this morning with a present from mom and dad, plus a birthday sprinkle donut
that Amy picked up on her way home from spin class. Riding to school on
the motorcycle was Jackson's next big thing. It was his first motorcycle ride
ever and as you might expect, he was pretty excited
about it. We
live right next to the school and typically walk, so the bike didn't even get
out of first gear or out of sight of Amy. But I revved it up a few times
while coasting and when Jackson pulled
his helmet off, he said "We went fast!" I think it was way more about
impressing the other kids at school than it was about the motorcycle ride itself.
And
Jackson seemed to think he was pretty cool, pulling up to the school's curb with
his black leather jacket and black helmet on. Jackson
started calling my bike cycledaddy when
he was one and it's what we still
call motorcycles to this day. It's just another Heath vocabulary word,
like luckalucks, doobiedoos, neigh neighs and ellies.
There were a lot of high points today. Jackson's
aunt
took him to the candy store, ice cream store and
playground. Amy got to hang out with Jackson's class after taking
them birthday cupcakes. Friends came over for a cookout and birthday cake.
Jackson was very happy about all the phone calls he got. He said that he
was very popular. But we also had a freakish number of low points today. I won't go into all of them,
it would take too long, but here are a few;
I started the day by burning a favorite pair of paints with the iron (reading the tag after the fact revealed that the iron should have been set to low).
Jackson lost part of his birthday present within moments of opening it and it took Amy all morning to find it.
Amy dropped a gallon of milk in the kitchen.
Jackson got a cloudy note at school. If you're thinking, "what's the big deal about that?" Well, it isn't a big deal, except for the fact that it was Jackson's birthday and that he totally lost it when he got in trouble. That's actually what he got the note for, the losing it part, not the getting into trouble part. It's only his second one all year and is so not a big deal. Heck, I'm glad that he didn't go all year without getting into trouble at least once or twice. But both times he totally threw a fit. This part could turn into a whole post of it's own, so I'll move on....
Jackson lost his glasses. We found them, but it took a long time. He has just recently started taking them off more frequently, which means that he isn't paying as much attention to where he puts them. Usually when he does this it's because they are out of adjustment. I asked him the other day if they were uncomfortable and he said no. I asked him again tonight why he is taking them off and he said that he wanted to look like everyone else. This was the first time the subject has ever came up. He's worn glasses since he was eighteen months old and it's always just been a part of him. At least four other boys in his karate class wear glasses, but he said that almost everyone doesn't and only three people in his whole school wear them. It makes me very sad. I really thought that after four and a half years he wouldn't be thinking about that. I'm sure it's something that we will work through quickly, at least I hope so.
Amy ran out to grab some foot long hotdogs at the butcher shop around the corner and got stuck in a traffic jam. Folks, this is Mayberry. We never ever have traffic jams. It's almost impossible. A traffic accident caused today's jam up.
While waiting for Amy to light his birthday candles, Jackson somehow managed to get his leg contorted and his knee stuck in the backrest of his chair. He was trying to let us know that he was in pain, but was afraid to move anymore than he already had. Once we had his leg free, we had to wipe away his tears before singing him Happy Birthday.
And last, but not least, a bird sh*t on me today. Yep, that's right, just sh*t all over the front of my shirt. I've rode my motorcycle for eleven years. I've been bee stung and rained on. I've swallowed bugs and even shed tears when June Bugs hit me in the face at fifty miles an hour, but getting sprayed by a poop bomb, that's a first. And I'm pretty sure that being sh*t on makes today, officially, a bad day.
