An offering...

Maxine's 5th birthday party was thrown together this year. I've never hosted a friend party before and thought it would be okay to have it on a weekend. Sunday afternoon, Maxine informed me that the party had to happen on her birthday, Monday. We quickly called a dozen friends and a cousin and asked if they could make it to a birthday party the next day. Everyone we called was able to make it and the highlight of the party was a piniata.

Maxine has been wanting and waiting for a piniata for a solid 9 months, maybe even 10 or 11. We purchased the piniata today and stuffed it full of candy, stickers, pencils and plastic rings. Everyone had a wack at it and Maxine had a couple of turns because it was her birthday. She was jumping around wildly while everyone else waited patiently behind a line we'd designated so no one would be hurt. Finally, Merril had to bust open the piniata and all the kids scrambled for the prizes. Maxine, who'd left her bag somewhere amidst all the jumping around, was late finding it and getting towards the spoils left on the floor. There wasn't much left when she got there and she burst into tears in traditional birthday girl style.

Merril and I tried to cheer her up by saying that we were going into the house to open the loads of presents she'd received. As she sobbed in the living room, one little girl (and I don't know which one but wish I did) offered one piece of candy from her bag. Without any prompting from any adults, the rest of the group joined in. Maxine stopped crying and I was overwhelmed with the feeling of generosity. Something's actually sinking in!! All the "say please" and "say thank you" that we've been pounding into our children's heads are actually becoming a part of them. These little girls did something that made a big difference and they did it on their own and I just wanted to say, "Thank YOU MOMs!!"