Sunday, September 12, 2010

Beyond a Birthday

Nick's Birthday.  9/11.  Some time must be spent in reflection and remembrance before celebrating.

Everyone says, "I'll always remember where I was..." but do we always remember how we felt?  I hope so.  It was such a foreign experience for me and the five girls I lived with at BYU.  We watched in confusion as the first building burned and in horror as the second plane hit.  It was what would have been a busy Tuesday morning, but none of us cared about class.  As the initial shock wore off, we finally went out the door and headed to the Marriot Center, the largest gathering place on campus.  It seemed more logical than class.  As we got closer, we saw that everyone else on campus was headed that way.  We were looking for sense and direction amid the horror.

I'd never had such an urge to enlist.

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Nick's birthday started with a bang.  Bethelle had her first soccer game!  The games are short and sweet. No score was kept, but the other team was pretty good.  Bethelle could tell that they won, but she didn't seem to mind.  She got in a few good kicks and learned a bit about the "team" mentality.

Next up was a trip to Olive Garden to meet up with his mom, sister, and her family.  Curie broke a glass within 30 seconds of arrival to celebrate.  We had great conversation, good food, and ended with a Hostess cupcake birthday cake!

Nick then headed off to the Huskies game in Seattle.  The thrill of the stadium, the purple sea of 70,000, the college football air, the victory... "utter bliss," he says.  The tickets were a gift from his dear friend, Tom.  He also enjoyed the 9/11 memorial, including the Air Force jumbo-jet fly-over during the national anthem.
The Huskies always run out of their tunnel with a UW flag.  Nick got all emotional when they came running as pictured below.  Add in the mountains, water, sunset...  If real men cry at football games, then Nick is a real man.
The kids were a little sad about missing their Daddy on his birthday, but we planned a surprise while he was gone.  Bethelle and Rigby enjoyed making this cake with me while he was out:
That's the MASTERS flag symbol, for those of you who don't golf.  I know I haven't posted it yet, but Nick attended the opening rounds of the Masters this year, accomplishing what was to be his life-long dream at too young an age.  Someday I will make a post on that trip, but getting him to sit beside me to help make that post has been harder than I thought.
And this was no ordinary cake!  Nick likes mint chip ice cream cake.
I keep the kids off sugar until they are one, and Curie was pleased as punch to finally join in the fun!
Happy birthday, Nick!  Here's to the next year's calm and chaos!

4 comments:

christina said...

Very impressive cake!



-c

Paul Rushton said...

Very touching football game honoring 9/11, it's good that he could be a part of it. Nick's birthday will always be a celebration and a humble one at the same time. I'm glad we got to share it with him and that he had a wonderful surprise when he got home. A beautiful post Elke. Thank you, Patsy

Anonymous said...

What a great post! First of all I totally remember that day. I remember all of us getting ready for the day and Amanda's mom called, got us to turn on the tv and shock simply took over.

Second, that pic of the football players running out with the American flag just about put me to tears.

And finally, you've got to post a recipe for that AMAZING cake. I know Janson for one will completely appreciate it. :)

Our Ohana said...

Wow, Elke, I should have married you - what a cake! Oh, and mint chocolate chip is one of my favorites too, so if you're ever visiting around my birthday I'm going to be begging for one of those!