Your 9th Birthday

Dear Kyle and Owen,

Here are just a few things that I want you to remember about your 9th Birthday.

• Before your alarm clock went off, you woke up at 6:09am (I thought that was interesting… the :09 on your 9th birthday!), excited to find your end-of-the-bed-presents.
• You came running into our room, Meera woke up in the excitement, and the first thing she said, groggily and half asleep, was “Happy Birthday Kyle and Owen!”
• With all five of us in Mommy & Papi’s bed, you two were completely surprised when you each unwrapped your present, to find iPods, each loaded with 99 (get it? 9! – 9!) of your favorite songs and musical pieces.
• As happy as the iPods made you, you were even happier to discover that they were the red ones (proceeds go in part to fight AIDS in Africa).
• You brought birthday treats to school for your classes. Kyle chose blueberry muffins. Owen chose mini powdered doughnuts. Untraditional birthday treat choices (according to you, “everyone always brings cupcakes”), but all reports were that everyone loved them. I was proud of you for going out on a limb and choosing what you truly wanted despite the break from the mainstream. I was really happy to find out that it went over fabulously with your friends and teachers!
• You chose to go to After School Program today — I gave you the option, and you chose that, for your birthday afternoon.
• When I picked you up at After School Program you were playing basketball with your friends and having a great day.
• At home you rode your bikes until it was time to go to dinner.
• Dinner was your choice. The two of you together chose for us to go out to dinner at Alando’s Kitchen. In case someday you don’t remember: Alando’s Kitchen is a Kenyan Restaurant. How many 9 year-olds (who aren’t Kenyan) choose to go out to Kenyan food for their birthday dinner? Probably not too many. That makes me super proud (you know I get quite a kick out of my twinny foodies!).
• You were so precious and charming at dinner. It gave Emily, the owner of Alando’s Kitchen, great joy. She brought you extra chapati and — because she knows you love it — she also brought you a big bowl of masala sauce to dip it in. When it was time to go, you both hugged her with big strong full hugs. I’m sure people in the restaurant thought she was a close relative or friend of ours… you don’t typically see 9-year-old boys hugging restaurant owners so vivaciously.
• It poured rain on the way home. Which meant we couldn’t do our traditional sky lanterns on your birthday night. We made plans to do them another night, and you took it all in stride (which was a big relief to me, because you could have thrown a huge fit given how tired you were at the end of such a big day).
• At home we had ice cream cake. Your sister was beaming as she carried the cake to you. You took your time, and were both very serious, about making birthday wishes before blowing out your candles. I don’t know what you wished for, but I hope your wishes come true.
• We got Meera to bed, then let you stay up late — ’till 9:00! — to watch the Red Sox on tv.
• Kyle was so exhausted that he practically fell asleep when his head hit the pillow. But he stayed awake long enough to tell me that “this was the best birthday ever.”
• Owen cried in his bed because he was so sad the birthday day was over — “it only happens once a year, and it was so good, and now it will be a whole other year until it is our birthday again.”

Kyle and Owen: you were happy and content and your heart was over flowingly full of love and happiness on your 9th Birthday. I hope the next nine years are as absolutely astoundingly amazing as the past nine have been.

Love, Mommy