Tuesday, 25 February 2014

The First Birthday

It’s the 26th of February and it’s the first day of seconds for H. Every day last year was a day of firsts but today is the first time he will have lived through a whole day on the calendar for the second time. He was born just before midnight on the 25th of February last year. That makes this day another one to mark as just as special as his first birthday yesterday.

On the weekend a number of family and friends gathered to have a bit of a party for H’s first birthday. The invitation we sent out was quite explicit in that it said the party wasn’t about him – it was more about the fact that his Mum and Dad had survived the first year.

I feel quite strongly that this is what first birthdays are all about. They are a celebration of the family having made it through. My initial experience of this came a few years ago when I attended my first ‘first birthday party’. I was a single bloke and was thinking that this was going to be a quick hi to the parents, laugh at the kids playing cutely and get out of there quickly. It wasn’t and I had to really hold myself back on the constant flow of beers that were being thrown my way so that I could drive home!

The first birthday is, to me, a celebration of the African proverb “It takes a village to raise a child.” At the party there were numerous people who had contributed to H’s growth and development in so many little ways during his first year. There were people who had given us support, guidance and advice when things were going a little pear shaped standing in the room, people who arrived with croissants and coffee at our door when H was just weeks old, people who have come in to babysit him so that his parents could have time out to ourselves and people who had just said the right thing at the right time when we needed it. They were all there to share in the day.  However, we realise there are also so many others who could not make it because of distance or other commitments and I know that they too will get the chance to share more time with H as he grows.


To everyone who has helped in H’s first year I want to say a massive thank you. You have been great support to us in raising our son and it’s because of you every day raising H is as special as his birthday - if somewhat slightly mad.

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