The Happy Meal Birthday

Happy Birthday, Dear Beenie:

You won't remember the day you turned one year old, so I will gather up a few memory treasures and stick them in a trunk in this old attic for you to uncover later.

It was great that we had the chance to spend this time together on your first birthday and my thirty-second wedding anniversary.  Your mama and daddy had to work, and Pa-pa was off skiing--so it was up to us to make this day something really special.

And although you won't remember it, we managed to do just that with a little help from good ol' Ronald McDonald.  At about 11 o'clock this morning, we sashayed into the lobby and made our somewhat cumbersome presence known. We shared a cheeseburger Happy Meal topped off with cake and ice cream, and you were quite impressed with your Ronald McDonald toy.

 

You won't remember the cake, but you liked it a lot.  It was a little vanilla cake-in-a-mug I baked last night and frosted with some icing left over from our last batch of cookies.  It even sported a single lighted candle.

(For future reference and possible other birthdays, I will take a detour here and document the logistics of that cake.  I mixed in a coffee mug 4 T. milk, 1 T. oil, and 1/2 t. vanilla, then added 6 T. flour, 2 rounded T. sugar, 1/2 t. baking soda, and 1/8 t. salt before baking it in the microwave for two minutes on high.)

Although you won't remember it, ours was a relatively quiet little celebration tucked back in one corner of Mickey D's.  But I considered it a success of the greatest magnitude because

1. you didn't scream.
2. you didn't poop.
3. we made less of a mess than the teenagers at the next table, and
4. we didn't start a fire.

Mama and Daddy will have a big bash for you next weekend when your whole family can be there.  Now THAT will be a party, and even Aunt Cookie and your cousins will be here to take in the action. Ours was just a little prelude to a much grander performance to come.

You won't remember today, but trust me when I say that both of us had a great time--followed by a great nap when we got home.  No, Beenie Boy, you may not remember this first birthday of yours, but it was as special as I had hoped for--and I will never forget it.