Serendipity and such

Well, Kidlet's b-day party went off not only without a hitch but in GRAND style. Let's hear it for the awesomeness of Mom...or at least some awesome good luck LOL.

We had the party at a local park, and the weather forecast wasn't good...rainstorms and wind predicted, with clearing promised in time for the Derby, but not necessarily in time for a 6-year old's big party. Several parents called asking me about the contingency plans which, given there was no way in HELL I was letting that many kids into my house at one time, consisted entirely of "bring rain gear and extra clothes". The only people who weren't particularly worried were Kidlet (he was oblivious to everything except the promise of presents and chocolate cake) and myself (I just didn't have the energy to worry anymore).

We got to the park a little after noon, and it didn't look promising...chilly, and windy, and overcast, with lots of puddles in the playground. Setup was minimal, and Kidlet was already having fun on the playground, despite having soaked himself in the puddles within the first 5 minutes. I had no idea how many people were going to show up, and absolutely nothing planned other than pointing out to people the location of chips and drinks, and at some point lighting candles on the cake. 1:00 rolled around (official start time) and only a couple of people had showed up...I was starting to get worried.

But I must have done something good in a past life, or maybe the Universe was just cutting me a break, because everything went uphill from there! The sun came out and the wind died down, so that the day became warmer and cheery. TONS of people showed up - most of his class at school, most of their siblings and parents, his two best friends outside of school, virtually everyone he wanted to be there - and the party filled the playground. All the kids got along, almost all the parents knew and liked each other, we had just enough food and not too much...damn. It was almost like I had planned it or something!!! The best part was the size of Kidlet's smile throughout the whole thing - he obviously had a blast, and all of the stress of the past week was suddenly worth it.

I felt completely UberMommish...it was sweet.

The Universe even threw in a bonus, in the form of a free new pair of shoes for me!!! They were there when we got to the park, soaked and abandoned next to the swing set, and nobody came to claim them all afternoon. At a little after 3:00 pm (official end time, although lots of people were still there having too much fun to leave!) a group of us moms gathered near them and speculated on who had left them and what (probably drunken) state she must have been in. They were, it turns out, perfectly my size, and cute as all get out. I felt a little bad about taking them, but as Erin so aptly pointed out, "if she hasn't gotten her drunk ass back here by 3:00 she probably isn't missing them too much". So I picked up my Gift from the Universe and took them home to dry. What a nice little reward for the crazybusy of the past couple of weeks :)

Gotta love serendipity.