Four candles should burn brightly today in celebration.
The soft glow enveloping your small, pale face and big blue eyes. Filled with wonder and a new understanding. Of birthdays and life and all the important things, like snails and mud and which brand of Peanut Butter you like better and whether Captain Feathersword is funnier than Wags The Dog.
Four candles should be yours today with a wish and a dream attached to every one.
A lime green dinosaur cake with a black smartie eye and spearmint leaf spines. You might have asked me, before the party, if you could have the tail and I would have given you the biggest hug and said, of course, it’s your birthday.
Four candles should be yours today and as you blow them out, in overly dramatic puffs of boyish air, you would feel the love of your big sisters and cousins… and maybe even your little brother and sister too.
You would feel the warmth of their hugs circling you. You would secretly enjoy their attention but you would never show it because big boys who are turning four are tough. They can’t be seen to love too hard.
Except with their Mummy.
Four candles, my son. Where have those years gone?
Four candles, my boy. Has it only been four years?
Submitted as part of Mamablogga’s GWP for April