On My Daughter’s 26th Birthday, Missing all the Party Hoopla

Twenty-six years ago, an amazing person came into this world. My daughter Elissa has been the ultimate blessing in life since the day she was born.  (A must read old blog describes what a sparkling child she was here.) Now she is an adult with a great career: My Daughter, the Therapist. She is also a community leader and an active volunteer for several wonderful causes. In fact, she is leading a humanitarian mission to Cuba on her birthday this year. I burst with pride in her achievements but mostly due to the kind of person she is.

It is such a great feeling to have raised successful adults who are independent and happy. Yet still, I am kind of lamenting the fact that there is no birthday party hoopla for me to arrange any more.  I miss the excitement of those days and I miss celebrating Elissa in a big way.

I spent her entire childhood making sure her birthdays were especially memorable, from themes, to favors, to entertainment and food.

We did a choo-choo train party, a Celebration Station party, a movie party, a bowling party, and then I kind of coasted a couple of years with pool parties. (Easy!) We did ice-skating, dance parties, dining out parties, as she grew older. We didn’t miss much in the way of parties, that’s for sure.

They were as much fun for me as they were for her. (I re-lived my own childhood through my children) I experienced enormous pleasure watching my sparkly girl sparkle a little brighter those days with sheer joy.

(And yes, we all know that Ariel had the very best parties no matter how hard I tried. Since Ariel’s mom is a dear, dear friend, I will forgive her for that!)

So in honor of her birthday, let me re-live some of those birthday party moments with a pictorial blog. Although I have to add, no matter how much joy these parties brought to Elissa while she was growing up, it will never equal the joy she brings to me every day.

By the way, it was a lot of work coming up with these photos.  I must say, this exercise did me a bit of good and used up all of that Mommy energy that is no longer expended planning parties!

First Birthday girl all dressed up for her party:

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Here’s her second birthday party at Celebration Station – Snow White themed

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Age three was a double party year – here is the one while visiting relatives in Philly.

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A family celebration above – age 3

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A school celebration below at age four below

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Age five below – a pull string pinata!

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A bowling Party age 6

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Swimming party Age 7

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Another Swim Party Age 8

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The ice skating party – with kids holding on to me for dear life!!! Age 9

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Age 12 – Chinese Food at PF Changs. Just the girls!

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And Now the Big Kahuna – The BAT MITZVAH PARTY! with a few friends! (Elissa is in the bottom row third from left)

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Sweet 16 below: More Chinese Food – Elissa far left

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5 comments

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  • That is a lot of Chinese food!
    Definitely had some memorable parties- thanks for planning them all my life. Love you!!!

  • brought back a lot of memories of the summer birthday parties I planned for my son. I always had an additional activity around the pool party, like an animal show, a Mad Scientist, and several magicians. It kept the kids out of the pool for just long enough to make the day even more special. And now he’s off to college on Friday..I guess I can only plan homecoming celebrations..if he’ll allow it:)

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