Seven

This year we spent the girls’ birthday in Texas. Stuck in the middle as it were. We made the best of it. I drove to the nearest Mexican market and got a piñata. We found some papel picado at the bottom of a bag. We bought way too many balloons. As you do.

We made do with what we had, a skill you learn well living on the road. And we had a pool, a lake, and family in town. Everything you need for a good birthday. And some chocolate waffle cake. Of course. We’ll always find a way to make chocolate waffle cake.

As per usual we were up at early dark thirty for the girls’ seventh birthday. I’ve embraced the early rising. I’m usually up before the kids. Not on their birthday though. No one beats a kid out of bed on their birthday, not even the one trying to pile balloons on them before they wake up.

After presents and breakfast we strung up a piñata and took turns pounding on it with a stick. I can’t recall who finally broke it, one of the birthday girls, but it was a sturdy piñata, made in Mexico. More impressively, despite never playing or even watching any baseball, the kids can hit. Some things come naturally, especially things useful in the pursuit of hidden candy.