Today is my husband’s birthday. I’ll be kind and not tell you how old he is. I will tell you though, he is older than I am.
We actually celebrated his birthday on Sunday because early this morning he left on a business trip. We celebrated with a yummy dinner (I’ll share the recipe tomorrow) and a homemade marionberry pie – his request.
After dinner we went to visit my mom and dad as my dad is recovering from surgery. When we returned home we found a surprise waiting for Jim at the front door. It was a birthday note from his good buddy Declan.
Declan’s mom had helped him make the card because, you see, Declan is five years old.
Isn’t he cute!
The inside of the card was pretty cute too…
A picture of Declan, Jim and a pile of mulch!
Declan’s mom had encouraged him to draw a picture of something that reminded him of Jim.
Each spring and fall we have a pile of mulch dumped in our driveway for our garden. When the boys were at home they were Jim’s helpers. Filling the wheelbarrow full of mulch and pushing it to the backyard, trip after trip after trip. They loved it – NOT!
Once the boys were gone from home Jim could never convince the girls to help him, so he was on his own, until….
Declan!
Declan loves to help Jim, each season he anxiously awaits the arrival of the mulch in our driveway. In fact this spring five year old Declan was knocking at our door as soon as he saw it in the driveway.
He proceeded to knock on the door every 20 minutes for several hours to see if Jim was ready to come out and “work”. Jim tried to explain to him that he was working inside right now but would be out in a while.
Finally, on Saturday morning Jim and his buddy Declan spent hours “moving poop” as the boys use to call it. Declan had his own little wheelbarrow and own shovel. He worked hard and Jim was so cute and patient with him. For his birthday, Declan received his own kids sized garden gloves from his buddy Jim.
When they were done working Declan wanted to know when Jim’s “mom” – that would be me – was going to make his favorite chocolate chip cookies.
That is the cutest part – Declan really considers Jim his friend, his buddy, not someone that is older than his own father!
I guess that is one way to feel young – hang out with a five year old!
So Jim – Happy Birthday from your family and from your buddy Declan! We love you!!
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