Happy 26th!

Today is Andy's 26th birthday. It is so sad he is spending it in bootcamp. This is actually his first birthday as a dad and he's celebrating it there. I know when we get older birthdays don't really mean so much but I imagine short of no one wishing you happy birthday or remembering ala "Sixteen Candles" this is another sad way to spend it.

There is really so much sacrifice deciding to be in the military. There may be many more birthdays missed, not able to spend together as a family. Can I handle that? I'm not so sure...

Growing up for me I always had small birthday parties. Since we didn't have family around I would invite some of my friends and get some presents and wear a pretty dress. Mostly I remember being excited about getting to eat cake and ice cream.

My korean mom was very good about having us eat healthy (well Korean food is healthy) so treats like cake, ice cream, and happy meals were not the norm.

While I might not be as healthy as my mom (since I cook more western food than korean) I wonder what my children's birthdays will be like.

Part of why I think I had small birthdays is that my mom was just not an American mom. She didn't make big deals out of birthdays or really holidays for that matter. My dad normally was the one who actually did all the holidays.

I remember one year for Valentines day he bought me and my brother a little heart shaped box of chocolates with like 4 chocolates in it. He put them on our bed on our pillows and told us that he had left a surprise for us.

I know I'm more like my dad in that sense. Even if it's little, I want to show my kids that I love them and hopefully will be able to instill some of that in them.

I can't wait to get to celebrate Andy's birthday by seeing him graduate! Even though I can't celebrate with him on his actual day of birth, I know that we have a lifetime of doing things like this with our family.