Another Birthday Away

Today is the Soldier’s birthday, and he has to spend it alone in the field. He has been in the Army for a little over 6 years now and since that time he has only had 1 birthday at home with family. That’s the curse of a summer birthday in the National Guard I guess.

I always feel terrible about his birthday because he does so much to make my birthday very special each year. He buys me flowers, gets a cold stone cake (yum!), makes a huge elaborate dinner and always buys the best gifts. He’s usually so giddy about the gift that I think only once he’s managed to last until the day of the event before insisting I open the gift because he knows I’m going to love it and can’t wait to see my reaction. He’s so cute. I’ll never forget the birthday he tried to make me a cake, it was a disaster. The first go around he forgot the baking soda so it was flat as a pancake and hard as a rock. The second time around he must have added double the liquid, or half the flour, because it was just a gooey glob. But he tried a third time, and success!

Last summer he was home with me for his birthday and I tried to do it all; bought an ice cream cake (his fav), make crab legs and steak for dinner, bought him a gift I thought he’d love (the newest call of duty game). Dinner was perfect, cake was delicious and the gift…..he had already bought it for himself! This is not the first time this has happened, he did that with Christmas last year. I was going to get him some hunting gear and - what did i find a week after I bought his gift? The same thing hanging in his closet!!  I think for this birthday I’m going to get him a gift card to best buy, should be safe enough :).