Top six things about Harriet's birthday party

including uninvited teenage party crashers

Yesterday was Harriet’s sixth birthday, and also the day of her birthday party. Things don’t always line up that way, but it’s extra exciting for a kid when they do. Here are the top six things about the day:

1. It was at the library! Wait, isn’t the library closed on Sunday? Why yes it is, but the library path (a mile-long paved circle that runs around Chatham Community Library) is always open. We chose the giant oak tree near the start of the path as a meeting spot/cake station.

2. Lots of friends and family were there—almost everyone from Harriet’s class, plus their moms, dads, and adorable little siblings. Mamie, Grampa, Steddy, Sky, and cousins Charlotte, Jesse, and Isaiah were there too. Everyone got a balloon! Some had skates, some had bikes, some had scooters, and some just had their feet.

3. We paraded around the big circle. A cool thing that everyone loved is that our library has a Storywalk, which is a picture book spread around the mile-long path. You can read the pages aloud, then zoom to the next page, and by the time you’re done you’ve read a book and walked (or biked) a mile.

4. We had delicious food—local strawberries, watermelon from Florida, and carrot, strawberry, and chocolate cakes from Lowes. After cake, many of us got our faces painted, courtesy of our talented friend Claire.

5. Everyone brought a gently-loved book, and everyone took a book home. That was the gift and the party favor, rolled into one. Easy-peasy, mac-n-cheesy, as Harriet likes to say.

6. Some red-eyed, uninvited teenagers crashed the party—but we thought they were cool. Many cicadas from brood XIX, which have been underground for 13 years, climbed the oak tree, our legs, and the picnic table. Bea spent some time escorting them off the path so they wouldn’t get smushed.

We didn’t make this post “top six things about Harriet” because there are way more than six things fighting for the top spots. Harriet is the sweetest sister, a kind friend, a hard worker, and a great helper. She’s the best at drawing cats wearing headphones! She won the character award at school! She’s hilarious, stylish, a friend to animals, and a great writer. (You can check out her Young Authors book, Fruitivore, here. Definitely worth the click.)

Harriet is not even afraid of snakes and showed it today, a teacher workday that saw us working in the garden, getting Harriet’s well child checkup (no shots! wow!), and rafting down the river. Over the course of the day we saw six snakes—one near the garden, one on the walk to the river, and four in the river. A good omen for this year? We think so!

If you’d like to honor Harriet on the six-snakes-day-after-her-sixth-birthday, you can buy a copy of Matt de la Peña’s newest book, The Perfect Place, for our friends at Siler City or Virginia Cross Elementary.

More soon from the FTT. We love you, Harriet!