Yesterday was my son's half-birthday. He's 11.5, and we have typically celebrated the half-birthday milestone with a little something-something. Last night that was the plan, but something went awry. Read on to find out what:
THE HALF BIRTHDAY BACKSTORY
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One year I got him a half-donut on his half-birthday.
I tried to get him to take the inside the
hole half, but he refused to be gulled. |
We used to trade half-birthday presents with one set of cousins, with the idea that you get so many presents at your birthday, wouldn't it be nice to spread them out a little. That worked well when the kids were small, but now they are usually asking for cash for some electronic doohickey that they are saving up for or a game that they want right NOW, and so that tradition has gone the way of the rotary telephone-- a nice memory, but never to be used again.
One year I bought him half a donut (never you mind what happened to the other half... that's classified information) and another year we baked him half a cake. So we have a precedent.
This year, my wife is out of town, and she had bought him two disneyish tshirts-- one that is Baby Yoda based and one that has Mickey in the middle of Star Wars. She wanted me to give them to him that day. I thought-- okay, I'll do it when we get home from D & D.
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| The two birthday shirts that my wife picked out! |
HOW D & D FIGURES IN: AN ASIDE
Yes, last night was Monday night, and he plays D and D at our local fabulous game store
Dice Dojo.
In case you don't know about Dice Dojo, check out this vimeo commercial I found online.
Dice Dojo Commercial from
Danny O'Sullivan on
Vimeo.
They have D and D games on Monday nights, (Adventurers League) and about 9 months ago, my wife and I took him to play for the first time. It was a late-night (started at 7:30 and the game was either 2 or 4 hours depending) But school was nearly over, and we thought we'll check it out. He loved it, and I loved sharing it with him. He was one of the only kids there (most of the players are in the 25-40 range and decidedly tattooed). He was always the youngest person in the room, and I was approximately the oldest. We made quite a team. He was very mature and was acquitting himself well as a player (coming up with ideas on how to slay or trick Non-Player Characters, etc.) I was very proud of how he played. I think that most of the other players were like "Wow. If having a kid is like that, maybe it won't be so bad." #theyhavenoidea
Soon my wife basically dropped out of going, so it was he and I going to play every week. Then he started inviting his friends, and we'd all play together at the same table. It was summer, so the other parents were okay with it. I played with the kids and was kind of their D and D father figure-- and it was okay, but it wasn't quite the same. When my son had a friend there, he was less mature and more apt to do kid-like things, like just going around murdering stuff and getting really giddy. Which is fine, but it wasn't the quality father/son time that we had been having.
When school rolled around, lots of parents (including us) did not want D and D to go so late, so I prevailed on the good folks at Dice Dojo to create a family game. They found a guy who loves to DM and wanted to do it, so he started. I played for the first campaign, but when it was all kid energy at the table, the joy and fun of playing was not there for me. And my son was chafing a little under my watchful eye. So, with the permission of the DM, I dropped out (and now he and another parent are responsible for the chaos of 6-8 monster children getting silly and playing D & D. More power to them!)
THE FATAL TEXTING FLAW
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Here's where you can make fun of my ham-handed thumb
typing. I can spell Lickety on a keyboard no problem. |
At any rate, Monday Night D & D is a thing. And since that was his actual half-birthday, I had
the great idea (half-baked idea) to invite the D and D friends to an
ice cream joint after playing for an impromptu ice cream session. I sent an email to the parents, asking them not to tell their kids, so they wouldn't know or tell Aaron, and if they were amenable, bring them to ice cream and I will buy. Unfortunately one was getting sick, another had homework, and another didn't show up for the game. But I didn't know that yet.
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| What we ended up not having. |
I then texted my wife telling her that I was planning an impromptu ice cream celebration, and that AA didn't know. Here's the flaw: It turns out I texted it to a text message group that included my son. So now he did know! He said "Dad, can't wait to go to Lixkety's for that secret ice cream afterward!"
That's what I get for disclosing my plans to my wife!
The joke was on him, though, as none of the other kids could make it, so I brought him home, face-timed with my wife to sing HALF THE HAPPY BIRTHDAY SONG, gave him HALF A BIRTHDAY CARD along with some ice cream, and sent him to bed.
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| The front of half of a birthday card. |
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The inside of half a birthday card. (This was particularly a propo, as his nickname is The Bear.)
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, starring Adam West? Okay, Boomer!)
The Chicago Auto Show comes again to McCormick place, and this time it's personal!
ON AMAZON.
