Surprise Birthday Party

On Labor day I walked outside in the morning. Alex, who I often will see riding his bike on the street outside of my house, or playing Basketball on the hoop outside of the house, was riding his bike up and down the street. When he saw me he rode up to me. "Today is my birthday" he said.
"What are you doing for it? " I asked.
"Nothing." He answered." Is your Grandma making a cake or anything?"
"No." "We'll have to make a cake or something."
I was a bit suspicious. Kids will sometimes say this sort of thing just to get as much as they can out of their birthday. However I'm guessing that his grandma, who has custody of him and his sister, is probably on a fixed income; it often seems like they run out of food. Later I found out that she didn't have money to buy a cake or mix so she really wasn't doing anything for him at all. When we asked his sister if we should invite his Grandma to have cake with us, or if we could give her a cake mix she said that her Grandma would be mad if she knew that we were doing anything for him. (Perhaps out of embarrassment?)
We happened to have a box of cake mix, and a package of cream cheese, so we and another girl (Kenisia from the earlier post) set about making a cake for Alex. As the cake came close to being ready we sent Kenesia out to round up Alex's friends to gather on our porch to celebrate his life. As we were finishing up icing the cake lots of kids were gathering on our porch trying to catch a peek of the cake.

Coming out the front door with a lit cake was the crowning moment of my Labor Day. Alex's big smile and thankfulness afterward were wonderful presents for me on his birthday. The cake was really good also.