Happy Birthday Nana!

We had a big celebration as both Elridia and Pararil celebrated their birthdays recently. A couple days later when it was just the two of us, Anithien made a comment about how out of place she feels. Now that Iselith is no longer around, she's the only one in the house without fair hair. I told her I hadn't noticed that this was an issue for her. Anithien continued to conversation by admitting that she was occasionally asked if she was adopted. I asked her if it was upsetting to her, or if she actually feared it to be the case.

Anithien reassured me that she wasn't upset by the questions, and she's never doubted that I'm her mother. It's just that she gets a little annoyed from time to time. I found that this was the perfect timing to reveal to her that she won't be the only one with darker hair for very long. Anithien instantly knew what I meant. She promised to keep the secret until I felt it was the proper time to reveal it. I laughed. I don't think anyone is surprised at all anymore when I announce a new pregnancy.

I practiced at night with Elridia's help to finally learn how to ride the bicycle I received from the gift giving party. It was much easier to learn than I thought. We had only been working on it for ten minutes before I picked the skill up. I figure it's because I'm an adult with much more refined balance than a young child trying to accomplish the same thing.

I was taking a refreshing ride when I spotted an absolutely beautiful wild horse not too far in the distance. I couldn't help but to stop and approach it. My head was telling me it was unwise to get close to a wild animal, but my heart urged me that everything would be alright. The horse was certainly cautious of me at first. It wasn't violent in any way though, and I managed to guide it to our nearby backyard.

It truly is a beautiful creature. Even just being around the horse and gently petting its soft fur made me happy in a way I haven't been for a long time. Though we elves have managed through special breeding to extend the lives of our horses much longer than normal, there is no way that Talron would still be alive by this point. We were so connected, so I hope he was able to find someone else to care for him when I could not be there. I hope he did not face the same sadness he had when his parents were killed in the stable fire. I wonder if he waited eagerly each day for my return, or if he realized we were never to see each other again.

I know ada and naneth sent me to Appaloosa Plains with the intent for me to get another horse there. It would have been the perfect place to do so with Appaloosa Plains being so horse friendly. However, I never had the chance. At first, I lacked the money and resources. Then I lacked the time necessary to care for such a creature.

Yet, perhaps now is the right time?

It probably isn't. I have enough money to care for the horse, but I have nowhere to house it and there's no stable in Monte Vista. Besides, now that I have another child on the way, the free time I have now will be gone. It was hard to do, but I let the horse go on its way.

Anithien had her birthday. The two of us have been planning for some time since she wants to move back to Appaloosa Plains to live with Jeremiah. It's sad to have another child move far away, but at least there's no real reason for Elridia or the rest to want to do the same. Thankfully, Anithien did want to wait until the new child is born before she leaves though. I'm fine with whatever will keep my children around longer.

While we were eating dinner that night, Pararil asked me how birthdays were celebrated in the elvish lands. I revealed that birthdays really aren't celebrated at all. There are small family celebrations on the 10th and 100th birthdays, but that's it. Once you live for so long, there's really nothing special in being just a year older. My children were perplexed, and surprisingly a bit upset, that I don't feel like my birthday means anything. I could tell that they felt sorry for me. Nioniel then asked me when my birthday was. I answered that I really wasn't sure. That left all of them dumbfounded.

I explained that since I never celebrate my birthday, I never saw much point in remembering the exact date. Plus, humans here use an incredibly different system for keeping track of dates. In the elven calendar, there's only four months- one corresponding to each season. If I knew my birth date it might be possible to convert it to the human calendar, but the only ones who would have bothered to remember the date and year I was born would be ada and naneth. Anithien, Elridia, Nioniel, and Pararil all begged me to ask them for the information in the next letter I sent home.

I thought the conversation was over, but Nioniel asked me to estimate my age. I started by explaining that it takes approximately 200 years for elvish bodies to reach physical maturity. The first 100 is the childhood stage, and the second 100 years is the adolescent stage. However, there is then the "Learning" stage. An elf uses the 200 years after their adolescent stage to gain as much knowledge and wisdom as they can. It is only after those 200 years pass that he or she is considered an adult. I left pretty much as soon as I reached that point. It's been about 100 years since then, so I would be somewhere around 500 years old.

My children were so astounded that I could be that old. To me, I still feel very very young. Considering that my parents are somewhere around 5,000 years old, I have a long way to go. Since my children had gone quiet from trying to absorb all the information, I tried to give them a little help. I told them I at least knew my birthday was in mid-spring. Pararil reasoned that that meant my birthday could possibly be today.

Maybe it is, I said.

My larger than normal stomach was giving me quite the backache, so I went to the spa to get a much needed massage. I was halfway through it when I went into labor. Thankfully, the staff at the spa were supportive of me wanting to give a home birth. One of them even had a little bit of practice as a midwife and offered to help me give birth. I told her I would be more than fine, and simply requested an escort back home.

I hadn't found out the gender of the child ahead of time for I still felt I would jinx myself somehow. I was so happy when I found out I had another baby boy. I gave him the name Galaran.

My stress levels had risen over the past couple weeks as is natural when dealing with a newborn. Nioniel and Pararil somehow thought it would be a good idea to keep bugging me about getting them a pet. I was already so tired, so I didn't want to deal with any more extra responsibility. I remembered that Kosa was always underfoot as well. It was hard to watch Nioniel and Pararil be so disappointed when I finally put my foot firmly down. The days passed, and they didn't cheer up. I felt guilty for being so strict about the family not having any pets. I reconsidered the idea. Eventually, I came up with a solution that I thought would work.

Nioniel and Pararil's mouths opened wide when they came home from school one day to see two big bird cages. I was worried that they wouldn't like having birds as pets. My worry was short-lived. The two thanked me over and over again. They promised they would look after Lina and Rica, the names they gave the birds, properly.

Elridia asked me what made me change my mind. I told her that I had thought back to my childhood. I remembered how much my relationship with Talron blessed me and changed me for the better. The three of them were interested to hear of Talron since I'd never mentioned him before. I told Elridia, Nioniel, and Pararil a lot about the things I used to do with my precious friend. I went on for a while before eventually telling them about the wild horse I met and how badly I wanted it.

Somehow, Galaran was a newborn when I went to bed and a toddler when I woke up. That's how it felt anyway. Anithien had been fretting that he would end up getting light hair despite Corey's darker features. I had begun to wonder if that would be the case myself. Anithien wanted her little brother to have dark coloring like her so badly that I feared the Goddess might play her idea of a joke by giving Galaran fair hair. We both worried for nothing. Galaran ended up with jet black hair as was to be expected by his heritage. He did inherit my green eyes and elvish ears though.

Now that she felt properly satisfied, it was time for Anithien to put all our planning into action. She was finally to return to Appaloosa Plains. Anithien promised that she'd call often, and I wished her good luck. I'm sad that she's gone of course, but the household does feel more balanced with only three girls to challenge the two boys.

I've begun to feel recently that things are beginning to flow better when it comes to my timing of having children. As long as there are no more surprises- triplets, Anondils, or teen pregnancies- it's rather easy to keep children leaving and coming at just the right time. With that in mind, I called over Mr. Coby McGhee. He's a man I've met a couple times around town. He was more than willing to help me with what I needed after we spent a bit more time together.

I don't quite understand it, but Nioniel and Pararil have become very pushy about me taking them out to places. As soon as they come back from school, they practically force me out the door. Each day it's a new destination- the park, the museum, the theater, and so on. We've gone to almost every place in town a couple times. Most recently we went to the beach. We stayed late and had dinner there. It's not that I'm not enjoying spending so much time with my children, but obviously something strange is going on. It's always just the four of us. Elridia never fails to have a reason as to why she can't come along. I want to know what their plan is, but it seems I'll just have to wait until they tell me.

My wait didn't last much longer for the reveal came the very next day. Elridia sent me out shopping saying she needed a certain kind of sculpting knife for a school art class assignment. However, because of the nature of the knife you had to be an adult to buy it. I got very frustrated trying to find this knife. I went all over town, but no store carried. No one had even heard of such a thing as well. I returned home a couple hours later empty-handed.

I wasn't sure what to do when I walked in the door. There were balloons and decorations everywhere. Then there was the large, elegant cake that my children were standing in front of. I'm sure I stood there with a pretty ridiculous expression on my face. Then Elridia, Nioniel, and Pararil all began to sing "Happy Birthday" to me. That's when it finally struck me that they were throwing me a birthday party.

I never needed nor desired one, but I was overcome by their thoughtfulness and love nonetheless. Of course, I teared up like I always do. I hugged all of them tightly and thanked them. I was happy that they cared so much.

Elridia said she was glad that I was so happy, but they actually had an even bigger surprise for me. Nioniel and Pararil took my hands and led me to the front of the garage. Elridia explained that before they opened the door, I was to know that the renovations inside were the reason for their strange behavior. I needed to be away from the house while they were going on, and Elridia needed to be at the house to oversee what was going on.

Elridia opened the door. The unused garage had been converted into a small stable. More importantly, that wild horse I had wanted to take in so badly was standing there! I was absolutely speechless.

Elridia explained that when I told her, Nioniel, and Pararil of the horse that she got a lot of the town's help to find where it had gone to. Elridia had gone through the process to adopt it, and one of the neighbors had took care of it until today. Since there was a place for it to stay and the three of them were willing to help out however they could, I wouldn't have to worry about any extra stress.

I almost began bawling. Somehow, I kept myself composed. I named the mare Nari, and took her out for a long ride. We spent most of the day together, and I realized just how much I've missed being around a horse.

My birthday had most definitely passed by this point, but even though it's not the actual date, I can say for sure that this is the best birthday I've had or ever will have......