Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Lucky Me!

I'm not usually a lucky person. I don't think I've ever won anything in a raffle. I usually lose at games that are based on luck, like War and Candyland. I have never bought a lottery ticket, because it would be pointless. I laugh when I see ads on Facebook offering help to cure gambling addictions. I was cured before I ever started when I stuck very dear Danish crowns into a slot machine at Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen and watched the equivalent of a dollar disappear in seconds. What's so fun about that? The rides were much more pleasant ways to make my money disappear!
Andrew is the lucky one in our family. One year Christopher got the Yahtzee game for his birthday and Andrew, then only about 4, picked up the cup and rolled 5 fives on his first turn. Grandma took him to the Monterey County Fair and he came home, arms full of stuffed animals and live goldfish that he had won. He didn't get to keep the fish, sadly as we were moving to Florida a few days later and I couldn't imagine carrying fish AND a cat on the plane with us . We've enjoyed cakes won at carnival cake walks, thanks to Andrew.
Christopher just had his tenth birthday and we celebrated in GRAND style. Somehow a kid who just moved here in August and is schooled at home managed to have sixteen kids at his birthday party! On his actual day, we dragged his poor grandparents all over Epcot (which stand for Every Person Comes Out Tired, in case you were wondering). I have forgiven Disney for the Everest fiasco because they really made up for it in the birthday celebration. In case you missed the ads, Disney has a birthday promotion during 2009. If you do not have a season pass, you get free admission on your birthday. For those with passes (like Christopher) there are other options, including fast passes for the family. We were supposed to get 5 passes with Christopher, but there were seven of us. The man at the gate without blinking added 2 more so we all could ride together. Then he gave us tips on how best to use our new magic "get-on-rides-without-waiting-in-line-with-the-peasants" tickets. Christopher got a pin that covered half his chest proclaiming his special status. It was like walking through the park with a rock star. Everyone smiled and greeted him and the crowds parted to let us pass to the front of the line.
We dined at the Marrakech, the very fancy Morrocan restaurant where Christopher feasted on lamb and couscous. Waiters in fezzes sang "Happy Birthday" in Arabic and English and even let Christopher wear a fez while he blew out the candles. I (at great self-sacrifice) took Christopher on the very intense Mission to Mars ride until we could hardly stand anymore. We managed to dawdle long enough to catch the fireworks at the very end of a very perfect day.
Grandma was great at reminding us throughout the day of stories of Christopher's first hours and days here on earth. She told of who was there, gathered in the waiting room (it was quite a crowd) and how his Uncle Tim had created a website and posted photos within hours of Christopher's birth (10 years ago, that was actually very cool). She told of his first bath and how they just ran him under the water in the the sink and then combed his dark and plentiful hair with a part. Todd said "Oh, no! She made him look like a nerd!" She also reminded me of something I said when gazing at this perfectly wonderful new human being in my arms: "I feel like we've won the baby lottery!"
Ten years later, I am gazing at the three perfectly wonderful little creatures strapped in to the way back seat, eyes open in wonder as they watch Pinky and the Brain, huge smiles on their faces even though they only get about half the jokes. And I think "We won that baby lottery THREE times!"
I am the luckiest person on earth!