For Your 5th Birthday, I Promise You the Moon…

January 15th was fast approaching and I was not prepared for Jaxson’s birthday. How can my little boy be five? Five, seriously? I’ve been telling him for two years four was the limit and he was not allowed to be any older, “Mommy, you’re just teasing” is the response I often received. I was, of course just teasing but if I could stop him from growing up so fast I would. The one difference now is I am not missing out on anything, we have been together 24/7 since November and this has been a blessing (most of the time) I would not have gotten if we had not taken this opportunity to all sail together. I still marvel at the new stuff he comes up with and wonder where he gets it? He doesn’t go to daycare, watch T.V., and has the same limited electronic games he has had since we left, so where does he come up with these phrases that crack me up? When talking about fish we just spotted snorkeling he said, ” I seen them boys” or his new favorite exclamation is “Dang It!”. None of us say either of those things so I am perplexed as to where he came up with them. Since we have been sailing, he has only been in contact with a couple of other kids. He met Noah, a five year old from Canada and recently, Syrus, a seven year old from the US. In sailing, the age difference is not as important as it is on land. In sailing, a kid is pretty much any one who is not an adult, any one who is still willing to climb a tree or kick an empty bottle around the beach and pretend it is a ball.

We were moored at Warderick Wells on Jaxson’s birthday. It is in the lower part of the Exuma Land and Sea Park and where the park headquarters is. In the guide book, I had read that Wardrick Wells had a gift shop, and I was really hoping to buy Jaxson something for his birthday since I had not saved him anything from the Christmas gifts I purchased and brought with us. This was not the case as it turned out the only thing appropriate that the gift shop had was a book that was $35 US and I was not willing to spend that much. To my surprise, I was the only one concerned about presents for his birthday. Not once did he ask where his presents were. First thing in the morning, when I woke him up and wished him Happy Birthday, I promised him I would get him a full moon for his birthday. His Daddy promised him a day of swimming in the beautiful turquoise waters and we did not disappoint. We started out the day taking the dinghy to Warderick Wells to take a hike. We took the long path up to a popular site called Boo Boo Hill. Local legend has it that a schooner wrecked there and all souls were lost. Local people say that if you climb to the crest of the hill at the bloom of the full moon you can hear the voices of the lost souls singing hymns. We took the long tour of the island and finally arrived at Boo Boo Hill on the afternoon of Jaxson’s birthday and consequently the bloom of the full moon. At the top were several homages paid to the lost souls, pieces of drift wood with sailing vessel names and crew were stacked in a pile to offer thanks to all who happened by and experienced smooth sailing and calm winds.

For dinner, Shawn fixed one of Jaxson’s favorites, spaghetti and meatballs. I had made cupcakes with chocolate frosting for a treat to celebrate Jaxson and Natasha’s birthdays. We all had a grand feast in their honor.