Happy Birthday....

It is amazing to parent an adult. I have done a great deal in my lifetime that brought its rewards, its challenges, and its delights. But nothing compares to parenting. The rewards are unlimited, and they curl around my heart with such tenacious bonds of fierce loyalty and love I sometimes think I'll choke and sputter and do something wild and willy nilly to prove my adoration for that child. The delights equal the rewards as a quick glance my way rewards me for a long-ago lesson. My son is helping raise a seven year old. He is trying so hard to become that instant daddy he saw in my father, to nurture, to love, and to be a good step parent. I can only imagine dropping into the "RACE" with a child of seven. What a lucky little boy to have three "parent" people to love him... But I admire the delights I see every time they are here..

And then the challenges.... I am learning to be a watcher, a listener, and a shutter-upper.... Although it is never a challenge to love unconditionally and uncontrollably, it is a temptation to butt in, to try to be a fix-it fox, and to offer gems of wisdom when unasked... That is new territory for me, and it hasn't been the general rule in our family for that older generation to stop being the rulers of the roost...

All this being said, I have been absent a while, but I have been reading blogs and dreaming of an autumn decor, working hard at school, snapping photos, and hunting my camera cord!!!!

Happy Birthday, sweet son of mine... We didn't have any Batmans or GI Joes this year... but I love you just as much... I have always said that every year is my favorite year to be a Mom... If I had my way, I would have 29 sons from every age of one to 29..... Luckily mine is just special enough to encourage and light up my life all by himself....