In July, mum-of-six and blogger Kristen Layne moved her family from Portland to Bend, Oregon, where after being home-schooled for his entire life, son Mahlon, nine, began attending public school for the very first time.
The sweet boy was thrilled at the prospect of finally having a birthday party where classmates would help him celebrate.
“This ninth birthday was supposed to be his year. His special day. His first real party with friends,” the 38-year-old shared in a blog post.
Kristen recalls that on the morning of the party, Mahlon was “up before the sun” with excitement.
“He hung streamers, blew up balloons, cleaned his room, took a bath, picked out his outfit, set the table, and carefully assembled the treat bags for his friends,” she wrote.
But as Kristen devastatingly shared, “What was supposed to be a fun-filled birthday party weekend, complete with pizza, cake, games, prizes and friends, went horribly wrong.”
“It will forever be etched in his memory bank as that one year when no-one came to his party. And that kills me as a parent,” wrote the doting mum. (Image via: Life on Peanut Layne)
Not one of the boy’s guests arrived for his special day, leaving him sitting alone and heartbroken at his brightly decorated party table, with no-one to share his Diary Of A Wimpy Kid-themed cake – chosen after his all-time favourite book.
“Words cannot describe the utter and complete devastation that washed over me, my husband and my nearly 70-year-old father, who was almost brought to tears himself.”
But what Kristen didn’t know, was that her son’s “disastrous day” was about to be turned on its head by an unexpected call from Jeff Kinney, author of Diary Of A Wimpy Kid.
Mahlon’s cake was themed after his favourite book, Diary Of A Wimpy Kid. (Image via: Life on Peanut Layne)
“I don’t know if he’ll ever stop smiling. Not only did Jeff take time out of his super-busy day to talk to him, but he FaceTimed him as well and gave us a personal tour of his office/studio,” she wrote in a second follow-up post.
“M is now telling anyone who will listen that he has a new friend and he wants to be just like Kinney, and has been working feverishly on his own comic book series all afternoon.”
“This will truly be a birthday that none of us will ever forget!” (Image via: Life on Peanut Layne)
Mahlon has returned to school since his party let-down, even bringing with him the goodie bags he handmade for his friends who didn’t attend.
Beyond a phonecall from his idol, Mahlon has since received an influx of comments and gifts from kind strangers.
To show appreciation for the many who empathised with his touching story, the nine-year-old is now putting together a thank-you video.
While Kristen never expected a response of such astronomical proportions, she only hopes that her son’s story urges parents to RSVP in the future.
“He wants to make sure that each and every child has a very happy birthday,” she wrote, “and that no-one feels sad and lonely on their birthday.”
