my birthday present to myself

Thanks to the kindness of friends, we spent last week on the Galveston shoreline. We drove down the day before my birthday. On the way there, I told Chris the only thing I wanted for my birthday was to welcome the sunrise alone on the beach with a cup of coffee. I’ve become a morning person over the years. The quietness and solitude of the early morning hours is like balm to my soul. It is so worth getting up a little early to spend some time in peaceful quiet my Bible and coffee; instead of being woken up by kids needing something from me.

My alarm went off on my birthday and I quietly got ready to sneak out the front door; that is when I saw him. My seven year old was sitting up on his bed, still and quiet. I knew I had a choice to make – either cling to my birthday present of solitude or invite him to join me. Moments later we strolled across the wood bridge and onto the sandy beach.

Turns out a sunrise date with him was the best gift I gave myself.

When we returned from our date, the rest of the family was awake. In a matter of seconds they decided they should each get a sunrise date with me. I’m not in a phase of life where my kids all sleep late and I can snuggle down for hours in bed on vacation. My kids are up early whether we are on vacation or not. I figured I might as well make the most of it.

I didn’t take Little One on a sunrise date because she isn’t a very good sleeper. There was no way we were waking her up early if it wasn’t necessary. My early dates with the other four became the highlight of the trip for me. I thought I wanted solitude, but spending those quiet mornings with each of them was even better. We sat in stillness. We talked. We twirled. We rescued eels from birds and we watched dolphins in the distance. And I still had my coffee on the beach.

The kids gave me drawings on my birthday. My seven year old drew our time together from earlier that morning. I think our date was as special to him as it was to me.

It was a very happy birthday and I love that I have his artwork to remember it by in the years to come.