Race Horse: A Birthday Bash Part One

Yesterday Gunnar turned 3.

I have always been fascinated by time. How it heals, how there really is no present, just a present second, and then it becomes past, how it changes things, and I am currently marveling at how fast it goes, and how I desperately want to capture and freeze it forever.

I remember our life before Gunnar, but I would never want to go back to living without him.

I thought our passes for Disneyland were blacked out yesterday, (I found out later they weren't. Bummer.) so we headed to another cespool of germie fun, Chuck E. Cheese's.

Kids stinkin' love this place. What is it about silly games, collecting tickets, and choosing a cheap plastic toy that is so cool? I remember loving it too actually. I also remember being freaked out by the Chuck E. Cheese guy in suit that walks around and waves at you. Gunnar was not afraid at all.

"Keep your eye on the road Chuck E. This is serious driving here."



I learned a huge lesson: eat before you go. The food is gnarly bad and a total rip off. Gunnie could have cared less about what we had ordered to eat. He was too excited about putting his "pennies" in the slots and playing the games. I told him he had to eat before he could play the train game. He scarfed down a piece of pizza, grabbed a penny and was off to play engineer.

"You see Ky-Ky the process of running a train is quite simple. Push this up and hit all these buttons simultaneously. See? Simple. Although, it does require skill, dexterity, and patience, I believe you too can do this. All you really need is a penny from your mom. Get one from her or from my mom. They have a ton."

$10.00 does buy you a lot of tokens.



There is one thing I do hope we own some day and that is an air hockey table. I LOVE THIS GAME! I would play it all day if we had one!! Gunnar partook of it's airy fun as well.



He scored on himself a few times too. No problem. It happens to the best of us.



His favorite ride though was this race horse.



The object was to make it go faster to help your horse win the race. Gunnar had no concept of that. His horse kept running into brick walls, jumping into lakes, and standing still completely. He did not care. It was the fact that he was sitting on something much taller than himself that had a reign, which made him happy.



"No more tooting, Horse. It stinks when you do that. And go faster. We are losing every race."



Gunnar's life is playing out like a horse race. It is going way too fast for me. My goal each day is to just be present and enjoy his moments of growth, discovery, challange, and laughter, but I still struggle with how quickly his horse is galloping. I wish I could slow it down to a trot sometimes, but Time doesn't let that happen with a child's youth.

Last night Jaren and I watched The Kite Runner after putting our tired birthday boy to bed. (Who had partied like a rock star on 25 minutes of cumulative car sleep yesterday.) I was so touched by the book, but per usual was expecting something different from the movie; it just never reaches the same level of genius. This movie did still hit the same nerve. I am sure many of you are familiar with the plot, and I don't want to give away any bit of the story, but at the very end the main character, Amir, repeats something that his best friend from his childhood told him, "For you, I would run a thousand kites." This is the spine line of the entire book and the entire film. It is the central message to both creations.

I was already feeling emotional at the thought of my baby turning 3, but his birthday connected with this touching film about two little boys hit my heart.

Gunnar, Your dad and I would run a thousand kites for you, over and over again. Your life will continue to happen, your stories will continue to be written, your horse will continue to ride freely. Dad and I will be riding along side you every step of the way enjoying your happiness, drinking in your spirit and love of life, giving thanks for the blessing and gift you are to us. Happy Birthday, Son. We love you.



p.s. Stayed tuned for part 2 of the birthday tale. We have a pirate party in the works for this weekend. Should be good stuff! ;)
Oh yeah, before I forget. When he woke up yesterday he kept asking if his birthday was outside. I told him, "Yes, your birthday is inside, it is outside, it is everywhere. Today is your day." He kept wanting to look outside the window to see if his birthday was "out there". I just realized today that he was looking for the bounce house we ordered for Saturday's party. ;) We have been talking about it for a while now, "For your birthday we will get a bounce house..." His birthday came, the bounce house was supposed to too. He is so smart.