It’s going to be a quick one today. First of all, I have no idea what I’m going to write about. Usually by Sunday morning I know the topic and at least one shrewd play on words I want to squeeze in somewhere, but this week I’ve got nothing. Second, I am preoccupied with planning yet another birthday for my youngest kid (Did you know they have one every year?), and I have some cleaning I want to get done before his party.

My son doesn’t know which day his birthday is. He knows it’s this week, but because he hasn’t been in school for a while he’s living the blissfully irresponsible life of a child in summer and doesn’t know today’s date. He’s asked us not to tell him and despite his big sister’s best efforts, he still doesn’t know. He told me it’ll alleviate the anticipation if he’s not sure when it’s coming. He also told me that when he woke up yesterday he mistook a stack of folded towels for his birthday presents. So… jury’s out on whether it’s benefiting him.

He’s turning ten on Wednesday and we’ve invited some like-minded kids to play a favorite card game for a few hours that evening. It’s a small party this year. I am very appreciative that the parties, for my kids anyway, seem to get smaller as they get older. I like that they prefer to be selective about who they invite to celebrate their big day when they could easily make a play for more presents. I’m sure it’s tempting when you earn no income. The group coming over is a good one. They all went to art camp together where they connected their 3D tree houses via a continuous yarn zipline. They’re tight.

The card game is a simple version of a D&D type adventure game. The players will start the game as a lone leader and through draws and discards along the journey, they build their party of heroes by including a character from each class; fighter, thief, wizard, etc. One of them is a bard. I love that the team is incomplete without art. Players also collect special items and challenge cards to thwart their opponents. The hope is the characters in the party will combine their individual strengths to be the first to defeat the monster at the end via a roll of the dice. The games fantasy world is doubling as my party theme. Because it’s a small group I was able to purchase a hooded cloak for each kid from the-site-that-shall-not-be-named so they can really get into their characters. We’re going to transform our dining room into tavern with the help of some cobble stone printed table cloths, and I’ve got steins they can use for apple juice. I’ll be allowing elbows on the table and to really channel the correct atmosphere, belching will be encouraged. It should be fun. I’ve never been into fantasy myself, but my son’s excitement about it is contagious. He’s in love with imaginative world building.

I’m reading a fantasy novel right now. Isn’t it weird when your life syncs up like that? I never read the fantasy genre and when I finally do my kid requests a fantasy themed birthday party and I am able to scrounge up all kinds of inspiration from the book I’m in the middle of. Some might brush that off as coincidence, but to me it seems to happen often enough to be significant. Significant to what I can’t say for certain, but the choice to read something out of my comfort zone ending up helping me plan an epic celebration for my kid makes me feel like I’ve played a magic card. It feels like I chose my own fate.

Am I’m looking for synchronicities, or is the universe dealing them out? Maybe I’m just trying to come up with something to write about. There is no way to know. There is no shortage of mysteries we are unable to explain, but the exciting part about fantasy world building is I get to decide. I get to envision a world where my mundane reading selection opens up a new story line. I can imagine I level up by adding an advantageous card to my hand. I can choose to believe discovering synchronicity means I’m on the right path. Life’s more fun that way.