Last week we celebrated the day Dan’s mom went to great pains to bring him into the world. His birthday’s always close to Mother’s Day so I always think of his mother. Bearing and raising kids is no joke. Raising good ones is miraculous.
He’s a good one.
And thusly do the peasants rejoice.
We rejoice with songs and cakings and trappings of all kinds. This year I gave the kids complete freedom in their gift giving. Well, with one exception. I did point Magoo in the direction of the T-Rex salt and pepper shakers and he was more than happy to ride that train to the last stop.
They were a perfect gift because Dan loves salt and pepper and he wears bowtie and… T-REX! Appropriately these came from Magoo, Magoo for whom Dan composed and performed a special dad song, entitled, “There’s a Big T-Rex Coming Down the Mountain to Eat Me,” nearly every night of his young life.
Wanda’s gifts were not song-related, unless you’re referring to bird song. She gave Dan this.
If you guessed that it’s a motion-activated singing plastic bird in mini real estate fashioned from reclaimed barn wood, you are correct. We found it at a craft fair. Bird $12. Bird WITH real estate? $15 A no-brainer, really.
But the bird + house was not quite enough for Wanda so we stepped into a local gift shop where she saw this and her eyes lit up.
“You know, how sometimes in church, you want to say something to someone on another bench but you’re not supposed to talk? This would be perfect! We should get it for him.”
And so we did. And a shiny rock from a shiny rock bin. The rock is not pictured here, as I was unable to locate it. Most likely Dan has spirited it away to his collection of very special things and it is therefore beyond my reach.
Dan wrote the current note on the sign to wave at recent dinner guests as they left, as to avoid verbal communication. Wanda thought it was for when you “aren’t supposed to.” Dan prefers to use it when he’d “rather not.”
And finally, Laylee Practicing-Is-Lame Thompson came up with the idea for this awesome gift.
He loves Laylee. He loves hearing her play. He loves jamming and talking music with her. So, she with her tenor saxophone and he with his alto, can duet the night away in dad and teenage daughter musical bliss.
Seriously though, how thoughtful is that? I could not think of a better gift idea. The girl has skills. For reals.
We’re glad he’s alive. He’s probably the best one that I know of.
And now any time he or anyone else steps on our front porch, they hear this: