DEF flashmob(noun) – a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and pointless act for a brief time, then quickly disperse.
I really had no plans for Karis’s birthday yesterday. Life has been crazy, and I always think that first birthdays are more for the parents than for the clueless babies. I mean, let’s be honest. Karis is just as happy playing with the pots and pans drawer as she would be at some elaborate fete in the backyard that would deplete my time, money, and sanity (three dangerously low resources right now).
My plan was to make cupcakes and just sing to her during dinner, snap a few obligatory cupcake shots, and call it a day. But when I picked the kids up from preschool, Jafta started drilling me about Karis’s party. He knew it was her birthday, and he was very concerned about when her party would be. I tried explaining that she was little, and that she didn’t need a party. But he was not having this explanation. (And if you’ve had the pleasure of meeting Jafta, you know how sensitive and dramatic he can be.) He took Karis’s right to a birthday party up as an issue of social justice. There were words. Strong words. And I knew if I did not somehow produce some semblance of a party with other children in attendance, I would never hear the end of it.
My plan was to take the kids straight to the park after school, to meet up with some friends. But I quickly decided to make a detour, and ran into the house to grab the cupakes I had baked that morning. (I made them from a box – of course – so there were 24 of them. There is really no such thing as making 6 quick cupcakes if you are relying on Betty Crocker. It’s 24 or none). I also grabbed a knife, and the container of frosting. I threw it in the car and headed to the park, explaining to the kids that Karis was having her birthday party at the park.
When we got to the park, there was a small group of children we knew. I sat down and got to frosting those cupcakes. Other children started hovering. There was interest. I rounded up every kid in the park, whether I knew them or not, and offered them a cupcake if they would sit still for a photo and sing happy birthday to my baby.
Basically, it was a flashmob. Only with cupcakes. And Jafta totally bought it.
