My baby boy turned 26 this weekend. The youngest of my three sons is taller and stronger than his older brothers. After all the wrestling matches and contests of faster/stronger one would think the older two would learn their lesson. As mama to three sons I can definitely state "THEY NEVER LEARN!" Even as adults they are thick as thieves are annoyed with each other depending on the day of the week. They can snipe at each other but don't let anyone else say something about their siblings because that draws a line in the sand you do not want to cross.

As a single Mom when the boys were growing up, I couldn't afford to throw birthday parties. Chalk that up to their dead-beat sperm donor (you can't call him Dad because he hasn't earned that title) going out of his way to avoid paying child support. He's now living out the old adage, "You reap what you sow." Two of three haven't spoken to or seen him in well over a decade. One of the boys gets calls from him now and again or he'll randomly show up at their house to "see the grandkids." That's in parentheses because my son says The SD spends about 3 minutes talking about the grandsons before launching into his life, his health, his problems, oh woe is him because the boys don't speak to him.

You reap what you sow buddy boy.

Okay, where was I before slipping into the "my ex is so bad because" trench? Oh yeah, birthday parties. Couldn't afford them. Instead I made them their favorite meals and dessert for each birthday and make my own birthday cards with whatever crafty stuff I had lying around the house. It's now a birthday tradition even though I can afford to buy them gifts. They don't want the gift, they want the meal. For birthday 26, the youngest wanted a big ole' pot of my chili with homemade cornbread. This year he relented and let me buy him a birthday gift...

Underwear and socks. Can you feel my eye roll? He felt this was a substantial gift. I did not. "I'm an adult Mom, I buy everything BUT underwear and socks for myself." It's true. He pays his bills on time, owns his car and has zero debt. He has a certain brand and style of jeans he likes. Uses handcrafted beard soap and oils. Buys his button downs from one retailer but the man will walk around in holey socks and drawers. There are days when I wonder if he's mine. In truth he's more like my husband, his Step-Dad. Jay's been around since the kid was eight years old. The SD bounced out of his life the day the courts granted my divorce 22 years ago. I'm thankful the kid takes after me and his Step-Dad.

So we got together to celebrate his birthday with chili and funnel cake. Funnel cake is the new birthday cake in our family. After dinner we played the latest version of Munchkin that we picked up last month.

Munchking: Critical Role - A Mighty Nein Game

We're all fans of Critical Role after finding the live-action Dungeons & Dragons web series on TwitchTV in 2015. As a family we've loved Munchkin since 2003 and have purchased several expansions. This version is just as good if not better. Of course we're biased because we're cool with anything that involves Critical Role.

The birthday boy almost won the first game but brothers are competitive and his oldest shut him down to snake the win at the very end. After several rounds of Munchkin we rented the movie Nobody again because the oldest hadn't seen it. We finished the night off with around midnight, sent the boys packing and stumbled into bed.

Today is recovery day. It's a quiet day filled with books, games, movies and leftovers. The recovery days are without conversation. Jay and I have minimal conversations because we're talked out from the night before. It's good to be quiet. It's good to veg, to be still and do nothing or very little. My baby boy is 26 and I'm thankful for the adult he's become even though I reminisce regularly about the days when he was my little tagalong.

Enough rambling for this Sunday.

26th

Rolled Paper Wreath

We Went Into the Out