Birthday Redo

Yesterday is a day I will not soon forget.  For 3 months, Katie had declared her next birthday party would be a pool party.  To ensure our big girl got her party wish --- we started early.  I booked our clubhouse pool in the neighborhood almost 2 months in advance.  We got pool party themed invitations, Hawaiian lays, flip flop banners, and even made Pool Punch.

Then at 11 AM yesterday morning --- the day of her party --- the manager of our neighborhood pool called and informed us that, overnight, someone had vandalized the pool by throwing glass bottles over the fence and onto the pool deck.  The glass was shattered both on the deck and into the pool.  The pool management company was in the process of draining the pool, and unfortunately it would not be open for at least 2 days.

Katie stood beside me while I took the phone call and could hear portions of what was said.  I said, Katie --- "I have some news can you please sit down so we can talk".  I also called Matt into the room because I was pretty sure we had a bit of a crisis on our hands.  Sure enough, she LOST it when we told her.  Tears were streaming down her face, and she went into the bathroom to wash her face while the tears continued.

While she was in the bathroom Matt and I talked about what we could do -- including some alternatives.  We finally got her to come out of the bathroom and talk to us.  And then the Birthday Redo began.

We discussed 3 options with her:  1)  Stay at the clubhouse, but without the pool.  We could do games and maybe rent a bouncy house (if available on short notice).  2)  Switch the location to UpTown Alley -- a fancy bowling


spot with arcade included.  3)  Switch the location to Pocohontas State Park's outdoor water park.

After a fair bit of discussion and SEVERAL phone calls to make arrangements we landed on Pocohontas State Park - because to quote our girl, "I really want to play in the water with my friends."  It was far from perfect, and an absolute scramble to get everything revised in the course of a couple of hours (not the least of which was notifying the guests --- thank goodness for text capability!!!)  But it worked out okay.

Katie, Matt, and I had a long talk at the end of the day.  There were a few big life lessons to be discussed in the days events.  First lesson: Sometimes you will make plans and have your heart set on something, and then something out of your control will change it all.  In that moment, you are going to have two options:  roll with the changes and make the most of it, or let it rattle you and ruin your plans.  Today, after a moment of panic and disappointment, our girl chose to roll with it and she ended up having a great evening with her friends and family.  For that, I'm so proud of her.

Second life lesson:  We were guessing that the vandalism at the pool was likely a group of teenagers.  Earlier in the summer a group had poured bubble soap into our neighborhood fountain and the bubble overflow was EVERYWHERE.  So, we had a discussion of pranks that cause no one harm, versus those that have serious consequences.  In this case, it will required between $5,000 and $10,000 to fix our pool, not to mention families cannot attend until its repaired.  She's not so far from the teenage years....and somehow, I want her to know the difference between harmless and harmful pranks.

Third life lesson:  Forgive the person who did the vandalism.  Whatever happened, I'm pretty sure the person, or people, who did the damage are likely now regretting their actions.  Video cameras are posted all around our neighborhood pool and I'm almost certain the culprits are caught.  We told Katie they weren't thinking about her pool party at the time they threw the glass over.  They were likely dared by a friend --- or just doing something they shouldn't.  Either way, we've all done something we shouldn't at one point in time in life or another.  Forgive them, and move on.

Included in this post are some pictures from the day ---- the good part, not the tears at the beginning.  Ha!  I'm so proud of our sweet Katie Bug.  She showed some big girl maturity yesterday --- and an ability to roll with unforeseen circumstances, even when it was NOT what she wanted.