I honestly have no idea what we were thinking when my youngest was born the second week of January. Every year I attend the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and just about every single time her birthday lands during the middle of the show. While I’m in Las Vegas at the most important trade event of the year.
This year was no different, of course, and it was during the third day of this five day marathon of an expo that her birthday arrived. 1.95 million square feet of exhibit space, 3600+ exhibitors, and more meetings and parties than you can fit into an iPhone app. And my littlest turning 10 the same day.
So I missed her birthday, though I did call and chat with her for a while that afternoon, and did return home with a very sweet birthday present: a stuffed bear with a logo sweatshirt from the M&M Store. She liked it (she’s a sucker for stuffies) and has seemed completely cool with me not being home for not just the day of her birthday but the last minute party she hosted for her classmates two days later too.
No party photos from her Mom but credit where it’s due, she did email me a few cute photos from when they went out for a birthday dinner. Kind of a 10% experience, but still, better than nothing at all.
Dude, skip out on the show!
Her birthday is only once a year!
I can’t do that. Sometimes work does trump family life if there’s a critical deadline, a must-meet client or, in this case, an event that is a must-attend for the health of my business and our family life.
After so many years of missing her birthday, it doesn’t even bug me too much and K- certainly seems quite resigned to this being the way her life goes. Instead she’s part of the gang begging to come with me next year. That’d be interesting, bringing a 10yo to the biggest trade show in the United States. And I definitely do not see it ending at all well…
Still. Just a week earlier or later and it’d never be an issue.
What were we thinking with her Jan 9 birthday?