Datebook: Thursday, August 31 ~ 2006

I am in a bit of a time crunch.

I have less than 30 days to come up with the perfect idea for my daughter’s birthday.

I know what you’re thinking, just give her some hard cash or a gift card and she’ll be happy. Just buy her a piece of jewelry or a watch from Cartier.

It sounds good but I have created this hole for myself.

I developed the “Birthday Extraganza” since the beginning of her time.

A “Birthday Extraganza” does not have to be expensive (although it typically is), it just has to be a process, a procession of special events followed by a gift that reflects love and intense research into the essence of what is “her”.

Wedding Planners have contacted me for ideas and themes.

Husbands have saved marriages by using my ideas for romantic celebrations. I might add my own still asks me on the eve of my own birthday, “What do you want this year?” I reply, “Surprise me” and he does by giving me nothing, just his “blessing” to go out and get myself a “little something.” Even my insurance man sends me a pen every year…

So, I think you can see how this evolved. I have made it my mission that my children feel special and blessed in honor of the day they were born. I am trying to bring back civility to our culture. It is a quest I did not aspire to take on, but everyone must share the load when called.

The problem is, I am without a plan this year. In the past, I have had ponies trucked in (no, not those small farm fair equines but small versions of the Royal Lippazons with a purple velvet theme). I have used the limousine twice; once for a 10th birthday theme that ended at a theme restaurant, and once for a 16 year-old outing to the one of the largest malls in the tri-state area, finishing with dinner.

We have had masquerades, treasure hunts, secret garden parties. We have had concert tickets and back stage passes.

We have tried to find the perfect location to behold the melding of mind and spirit. This has vacillated from the bridge at the Atlantis, to the hills above Carlsbad, to the semi annual Nordstrom sale.

And just so you don’t think it has all been fun and games, I have incorporated important life lessons into each adventure.

The best piece of cake always has an extra flower or your name written on it.

It is better to have one or two really nice things than twenty items of lesser value.

A woman’s face always looks beautiful in candle light, so let the cake burn a bit to get the best photographs.

My husband, looking through the checkbook from the past month, said, “Why don’t you just give her that new pair of skates for her birthday?”

“That’s funny.” I replied.

“Well, I can’t remember the last time I ever had a pair of twelve hundred dollars shoes!”

I start to reply, and then pause. Maybe he was on the edge of an idea. What if I had someone sign her skates with a good luck message? What if I shipped one of her new white Klingbeils to Michigan? What if someone wrote, “Good Job!”

A bit risky. What if it got lost in the mail?

Maybe, I should just bring Charlie White here.

Maybe I should bring Charlie White, Todd Gilles, Brent B., and Chung Gun right to her hometown to sign her skate and sing “Happy Birthday.”

“Birthday Extraganza” is back on track. I think the boys might even agree to jump out of a cake.

Wearing their Free Dance costumes of course!

Mombo #9