Tuesday 18 January 2011

to sleep perchance

We've celebrated our first family birthday here in Canada. The youngest child turned eight and asked to have a slumber party. What a misnomer. We invited several girls round for the night, but slumbering was the last thing on anyone's mind. Most of the girls were awake until 2:30 am, and they rose bright-eyed and bushy-tailed well before 8:00 am, demanding Lucky Charms and Froot Loops for breakfast. The birthday girl had a grand old time except for one dip near midnight, when she began to feel a little left out at her own party. These children have known each other a long time; we're still new. Her two best old friends did join the party from England, via skype, which was absolutely wonderful, but they weren't there with her in the deep dark heart of the night, and they weren't corporeal. The new friends did their best and eventually, after telling a round-robin ghost story, it all came right and joy reigned (noisily) till the wee hours... as I hope will prove the case for all of us, but perhaps not at that hour of night.

Meanwhile at the other end of our age spectrum, the eldest child, nearly 13, barely sleeps because he has so much homework, violin practice, Bar Mitzvah preparation, and he must keep up with his texting -- especially now that he has a girlfriend. Or at least, as he puts it, a girl with whom he is 'going out'. Tomorrow they will celebrate their one-week anniversary (most definitely not with a slumber party). I don't know her but she sounds nice, and my son is so pleased and proud. Very very sweet. But I pinch myself; it seems only yesterday that he was a baby. How can he possibly be dating? Or for that matter texting?

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