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September 23, 2022 Michelle Cuthrell

He’d planned it diligently from the day he developed the idea.

Although Superhero 2 had the option of choosing a party, a gift, or an experience for his 13th birthday, we knew without a doubt what our little extroverted lover of fun and festivities and friends would favor.

Unquestionably a party with his close-knit co-op cohort.

This organized little event planner carefully designed the event — a murder mystery party in the comfort of his favorite place — home.

He’d picked the theme — Bullets on Broadway with a side of Hamilton.

He’d assigned the characters, suggested ideas for the costumes (Trip Fallington the trap door operator earned brownie points by brandishing a full sleeve of fake ink) and made a menu that included Guns and Dips, A. Ham and A. Burgers and History Has Its Fries on You (because Theis genes die hard and Odyssey pun life, even harder).

And the day before he turned 13, Superhero 2, his siblings and his talented thespian friends donned fedoras and flapper dresses and all the red carpet accoutrements and assembled in our family room to the tunes of Hamilton and a glass of tea-dom for an afternoon of performing, problem solving and pretending to murder each other.

Because we believe in wholesome here.

Unconquered by Covid: The Birthday Buddies and Their Priceless Pandemic Year

April 5, 2021 Michelle Cuthrell

Last year, their birthdays fell on the very first week of Covid stay-at-home orders in our state.

With two boys born three years apart on one day (count back nine months from April 4 and you’ll see that July 4 is a well-celebrated holiday in this formerly military household — just call us “patriotic” 😉), and with that day frequently falling over spring break, April 4 has become somewhat of a team holiday inside our home.

And spending Nos. 11 and 14 locked down with the ‘rents whose idea of fun was Life Skills Saturdays *probably* wasn’t on the top of their pre-teen and teen celebration plans. (Listen, we are firm believers that having uncool parents builds character. We’re in this for YOU, sons.)

This year, Superhero 1 and Superhero 2 turned 15 and 12 on Easter Day. And after a year filled with so many things Covid put to death last year (R.I.P. showers, makeup and anything that does not include stretchy pants), it felt almost symbolic that this day exactly one year after shut-down brought with it what feels like new life.

And a reflection of light not just at the end of the tunnel but, in hindsight, all THROUGH it.

Superheroes 1 and 2 ended their school years last year with 8th grade and 5th grade drive-through graduation parades and started high school and middle school at least partially virtually and in masks.

And although the world said it would be a throw-away year with a pandemic and educational restrictions our people had never seen, God, in all His grace, transformed Covid obstacles into the most beautiful opportunities for these two boys.

Seven Sparkly Years

December 31, 2020 Michelle Cuthrell

Traditionally, age 7 isn’t exactly a blow-out kind of birthday year.

Unless, that is, it marks a significant step in an unraveling life story.

Like the year that tips the scales and moves the dial from more time spent as an orphan in this life to NOW, at age 7, the same amount of time spent as a proclaimed SON … one passionately and madly loved by TWO mamas in this big, wide world.

The Overwhelming Opulence of a Husband at Home

April 20, 2020 Michelle Cuthrell

For nearly 16 years of marriage, Super-Spouse has missed out on all the fun.

He missed the hurricane of 2016 that leaked through log walls and downed power for multiple days.

He missed the hurricane two years later that flooded our land and our county and closed schools for can't-sit-still superheroes hopelessly bound to their homes.

He missed the Great Bat Infestation and Simultaneous Basement Flood of 2018 (and all the repairing and re-flooring that followed).

And he missed the 15-minutes-after-arriving-at-the-hospital delivery process of Superhero 2. (Thankfully, thanks to hefty speeding on back roads, Kiersten Slevin, saver of baby deliveries, did NOT 🙌.)

But now that he has changed out of the very last command of his military life (in his pajamas from home in what was an introvert’s dream of a non-ceremony), my favorite superhero who loves to live on other continents when disaster strikes is, for what feels like the first time ever, HOME!

And in a world where we know one deployment or TDY could have easily kept us apart for months, I have never felt so humbled, grateful or blessed.

Quality time together is a luxury in this military life.

Quality time with a man like this one is just plain opulence.

Celebrating Superheroes the Quarantine Way

April 4, 2020 Michelle Cuthrell

When we asked them to make a decision about their birthdays two months ago, we had no idea that Covid would make the decision for them.

Superhero 1 and Superhero 2 share the same birthday, three years apart. (Count back nine months from April 4 and you’ll see that Independence Day is an extremely important holiday in this here military household. Fireworks, people. Just call us patriotic.)

So it’s a good thing that, when given the choice between a birthday party or a birthday experience or a birthday gift, both boys this year chose a gift … in the form of an experience we’ll be gifting them when this is all over.

Which means that today, on the day 50 percent of our children were born, we’ll be doing what we’ve been doing every day for the last three weeks.

Laughing.

Playing.

Running.

Reading.

Returning to simpler days and simpler times when togetherness was the best birthday gift of all.

And eating take-out from two locally owned restaurants to support local business while we do it.

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