Beautiful Friendship

A few weeks before Savannah left for her senior trip, one of her dearest friends called me to ask if I had any birthday ideas for Savannah and/or if I wanted to send anything with her to help celebrate.  I had already been trying to figure out how I could make Savannah's birthday special in the middle of a school trip, but I had no ideas.  Fortunately, this particular friend is an incredible artist possessing amazing creativity and a very pure heart.  She shared some of her ideas, so we conspired to make the day a memorable one for Savannah.

I love Savannah's friends - such great people!

I sent pictures as was E's idea, and she got up at 2:00a.m. to decorate the room with them.  Bless her! How did I choose pictures?  I simply went back over the years to Savannah's friend parties and sent pictures of her birthdays past celebrating with friends.  I then took the pictures she downloaded on the computer from her phone, and printed those too.  Andy, the rest of the kids and I all sent cards with E for Savannah to open last night.

A friend of mine was in California last week and posted pictures of her kids eating a ginormous donut.  I sent $10 with Savannah and told her to splurge on one of those for her birthday dessert.  However, I gave her the freedom to choose anything she wanted on any day.  She's not much of an eater and especially not when in the sun all day at an amusement park.  She opted for the donut, and I see that E made sure she had a pin to identify her as a birthday girl.  When Savannah sent this picture, I asked about the necklace she's wearing as she does not wear necklaces often.  She and E found matching penguin necklaces and bought them.  Savannah loves penguins, in case you did not know.  They make her happy.

This is the coolest.  E told me that she was going to make a birthday poster and cut it into 18 pieces which she would hand out to Savannah's friends.  They were to write birthday wishes on the back and randomly hand them to Savannah during the day.  I thought this was such a great idea, but I had no clue how amazing the front would look or what theme E would use.  Did I mention that E is an incredible artist?  I just love her.  She even texted me to update me on how Savannah was enjoying her birthday - precious!!

Someone mentioned to me that it must be bittersweet to be apart from Savannah on this birthday.  I am just so happy for her to have this day with friends.  High school is ending soon, and these kids will try and stay in touch, but we know that life's roads will pull them apart.  It won't be the same whatever they choose, so I am grateful that she gets to relish this time with some truly amazing people in these last weeks before she walks out of her school for the last time as a student.