Valentines cupcakes...

I spent a day at my cousin's place yesterday. We celebrated one of the most athletic and bright 7 year old's birthday with a butterfly cake and super mario cart...Brianna had already had a friend party and sleep over and every good thing...but still had a family birthday to make it a weekend of fun and one of those birthdays you look back on and think, 'where did all the magic go?' When birthdays were still birthdays, major events that made you think that musicals really might be real somwhere, and that fairies live in the garden plants your mother tends...This time, coming as a family member and obviously a bit older, I couldn't help but notice all the work parents go to to make the events that seem so effortless and full of special memories...you grow up thinking that all this comes naturally and just happens. Food appears, presents are earth shatteringly amazing, and the fun only ends when your eyes shut as your head hits the pillow at night.
The fun spills over I think, on those magically, painstakingly put together parties. It was so great watching the kids have fun, Luke and Jack were hilarious...but sadly, Jack no longer calls me Marina, which i thought was one of the nicest nicknames I have ever had. He told his mother, "It's maria, MAREEEEA." very emphatically. And then i got valentines day cupcakes and lasagne to take home with me...so i went to Bri's party and got presents too...but it all had to end at some point, the magic can only last for so long as we all know from Cinderella... but even as Glen and Crystal drove me home, the veggie tales christmas album playing in the car made me think that I had been in a kids musical all day. Energy, magic, little fairies running around spreading their wonder and delight, making even the littlest things super-fun.
Then stepping out of the car into the snow and racing for the dorm, home to my grown up life, with homework and details and projects and the probability of statistics making me crazy...
every now and then, when i need a little reminder that life is magical, I open up the fridge and look at my cupcakes...happy birthday Bri I hope the magic never ends:)
I will upload pis of the cupcakes when i find my memory chip thingy...arghhhhh...details...