The best plant holder ever.

This is the inside of the bunkie my parents built in the backyard recently. Cute, no?

In the window reflection you can see the back of the house and the bumble-bee infested back porch which may or may not be next on the list of projects.

Through the back window you can also see my 5th birthday present. My dad had thoroughly convinced my four-year old self that the project I was "helping" him work on, was a house to hold his boss's plants. I saw no reason why his boss wouldn't want a pretty little Sarah-sized house on stilts, complete with heart-shaped cutouts.
I don't remember much about what I did to actually help the project along. I did have a tool belt and a hat like my dad's but my tools themselves were of the fisher price variety.

I do, however, remember changing into what I thought was a hilariously large pair of shorts and then coming outside and announcing "Now THIS is what I call a pair of shorts!" My mom laughed, which may have prompted me to go around repeating the phrase every time I put them on.

My parents recently found footage of the big reveal. Mom woke my cousin Emily and I up at what looks something like 6a.m. although it's hard for me to say, as I generally try to avoid getting up that early these days. We're all tangle-haired and sleepy-eyed at any rate. I'm carrying my stuffed dog who I alternately called "Fred" or "Cinderella" depending on my mood.

The video shows us barefoot and pj-clad, tiptoeing out onto the back porch -at the time, not bumblebee infested - and stopping short to stare at the "plant holder" which was decorated with pink balloons while my parents yelled "Surprise! What do you think?" I stood there smiling uncertainly until Emily, almost a year younger, but clearly a little quicker on the uptake than me, exclaimed " I think it's a playhouse!" At which point I laughed out loud and flung myself at my dad for a bear hug. It was a very happy birthday.

Because of various health issues, it seems pretty unlikely that I'll be able to safely do the whole pregnancy thing. I've known for a while now, but once in a while, when I come across an especially glowing pregnant woman, it can still get me pretty down.

On the upside though, I'm now more likely than ever to adopt a child. One who is already here, who wasn't born into the kind of charmed childhood I was lucky enough to enjoy and who desperately needs someone who will build them a playhouse or just laugh when they put on a funny pair of shorts.

Anyway, the real point of this story is, I'm sure any day now, my parents are going to lure me home for a visit, tie balloons on that cute little bunkie, wake me up at 6 a.m. and shout "Surprise!"

No?