Pink Power Ranger Day

This day comes but once a year, and in our family it is linked to two boys, now men, cousins who share the same birthday. My oldest son, Shawn, is thirty years old today. He came into the world thirteen hours after labor began, 9 lbs even and 22 inches long, with broad shoulders as painful to deliver as was his head! But what joy he brought into my life with that first cry. And what a great time I have always had being a mom, because no matter what else life hurls at me, my three sons can make me laugh harder than any other people I know and bring me joy by just knowing their presence is in the world. They are good men each one of them. As for the other birthday boy, on Shawn's ninth birthday, his cousin Forest decided it would be a good day to be born, and with great pains and labor, he came into the world at 10 lbs 10 ounces. I had promised Shawn if Forest was born on his birthday, I would be sure and call the school so someone could tell him. When I picked him up that afternoon the excitement was evident as he had been very proud to have the announcement made in his class that his cousin had arrived. But now you may be wondering, how did this become Pink Power Ranger day? Isn't the Pink Power Ranger a girl?

The Power Rangers were a force to be reckoned with while these boys were growing up. By the time Forest was old enough to watch the show, his cousin was growing beyond it and so when they would get together, Forest always told Shawn he was the Pink Power Ranger. Shawn, being the good sport that he was, and ever the "oldest brother" took it in stride and in turn teased Forest that he was the Pink Power Ranger. Well, somehow, as family teasing goes, and traditions begin the two became known as the Pink Power Rangers, and though separated by two hundred miles, they would call and wish each other happy birthday every year from one Pink Power Ranger to the other. My sister went so far as to make them a Pink Power Ranger cake one year when we were able to get them together for their birthday. And so it goes. The day has stuck and even my sister and I wish each other a Happy Pink Power Ranger day each year in honor of their birthdays.

These small family traditions, the funny sayings and silly happenings that define our families, are sources of happiness. Though with divorce, some traditions may fall by the wayside because they had been shared with you and your ex, take the time, nonetheless, to nurture the small traditions for your kids. Find the joyful moments and allow them to create new ones. Encourage their laughter, their fun, because childhood is so short and divorce is so serious, but it need not define their lives, any more than it should define yours. Take time to write in your journal some of the traditions you and your children might already have and think of ways to encourage their light hearted fun. Happy Pink Power Ranger day to you and yours!