An empty bed. :(

For the past 17 years or so, Alison Reed has woken up to her birthday with a bed full of presents and cards to start the day off with a celebration. On the weekends, said celebration was longer, but we did it even on school days.

Thanks to COVID, we had her here for her 19th birthday. But this year, she was still at Purdue and woke up to her 20th birthday in her dorm room. It was finals week, and she had already informed us that she wouldn't even be thinking about her birthday until all her exams were over. 

I sent her early birthday/finals week treats and an early birthday text, but we haven't really celebrated yet. Jeff remarked that it was kind of silly to make a point of bringing up her birthday this year.

I, of course, disagreed.  

The night before the 5th, out of respect for her nerdy plans to study, I sent her a note asking when would be a good time for us to call her the next day. We try to have a family phone call on Sundays, but we don't limit ourselves to that and text fairly often. She'll send an emergency need for money text here and there and we talked earlier in the week about getting her money so she can pay the rent on her first summer sublease. (She'll live most of the summer in Lafayette where she's interning in a chemistry lab.)

She didn't respond to my question about when we could talk until the next day, and only then after my Happy Birthday text. She said she'd forgotten all about it being her birthday.

"But when I remembered, I was like, hey! where's my bed full of presents?!" she said.

We'll pick her up Sunday for some time at home before she moves back, and we'll get her for a few days here and there until she goes back for the fall semester and her junior year. Full adulthood is coming way too fast.

This is us a couple weeks ago at our favorite Lafayette restaurant, Bistro 501. 

We'll be back there tomorrow for Mothers' Day/Moving Ali Home Day.

Hope you're looking forward to celebrating safely this weekend and for the rest of the year. Happy Mothers' Day to all who mother.😞



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