Guest Blogger Leshemia

The blogs just keep getting better and better! This one comes from my old college road dog, Lashemia. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did! Have a great day!


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I love birthdays! I love the fact that this day is YOUR day...God chose this day for you to grace the world with your presence.  I love to make a huge production of birthdays..and I love for a big production to be made of my birthday.  That being said, my wonderful, loving husband couldn't care less about birthdays...to him, it is just another day. Nothing special.  I attribute our differing attitudes to our upbringing...my parents always made us feel like a million bucks on our birthday--special dinner, parties--the whole nine yards.  Lamont's parents, on the other hand, didn't really make a production of birthdays...they were just another day.  So we have both brought those same attitudes we were raised with into our marriage...no we are not newlyweds, but this is something that we have never seen eye to eye on.

His birthday was Saturday and for weeks prior to his birthday, I gave his gift an immense amount of thought and consideration.  I called a babysitter to watch the kids so that I could take him out for a spectacular birthday evening.  Those were MY plans..this is what I'D want him to do for MY birthday.  Of course, since this is something that I'd want, surely he would be thrilled by this too, right? WRONG!  Two days before his big day, he tells me "Hey, the Florida vs Alabama game is on Saturday night and I can't wait to watch it!"  HOLD UP...PUMP THE BRAKES!! Are you kidding me right now??? My response was "You do realize that is your BIRTHDAY, right?"  With a shrug of his shoulders, he was done with the conversation.  

See, MY expectations were that he would be as giddy as I was about his birthday.  Tarah wrote in this very same blog a few weeks ago about expectations...I probably shouldn't have had any, but I did.  I will admit that I was more than a little crushed when he wasn't as excited as I thought he should be, but that is where the perspective portion of this story begins.  

My husband is in the Air Force...yes, we are a military family.  We have moved so many times, that my children walk into the airport and remove shoes, jackets and take laptops out of their cases--without being told to do so.  Last year, Lamont was on a 365-day deployment--yes, one full year.  So that means he missed birthdays, holidays, first day of school, sports that the kids were in, etc.  

After he shrugged his shoulders about his birthday, he went on to explain that to me, just being able to be on American soil for his birthday is gift enough.  To wake up on his birthday and see his wife and kids--not just a photo--is all he could ever ask for.  At that moment, I knew that my expectations were wayyy out in left field.  He gave me a new perspective on this.  So many times, we don't want to see things from others perspective.  So often we take for granted the little things that actually make up a life.  It's not about the big moments and the over the top stuff, it's about the simplest joys and the smallest things that bring us joy.  I thank God everyday for bringing him home safely and also for the man that he is to me and to our children.