Blue, and screaming!
He's always been big for his age, usually somewhere around the 95th percentile. No doctor can measure it, but I am fairly certain his heart is in the 125th percentile. His caring ways and tenderness prove it over and over again.
My grandfather was on his way into the next life when my Dude's older sister was only nine months old. He asked to see me, and Little Miss and I rushed to his side.
He told me then, almost three-and-a-half years in advance, that I "got a boy."
My aunt thought he meant the little girl she was already holding, but he wouldn't take his eyes off me, only shake his head "no."
I thought he meant one of my cows would have a bull calf, but this lifelong dairy farmer would have said "bull" if he meant bull, and he said "boy."
I asked if I would have a boy one day.
He shook his head "yes."
I felt so disconcerted, I laughed and said my husband would be happy.
He confirmed my husband *would* be happy.
He was right.
My sweet boy came, and with him the most solid evidence I had ever held in my hands of things unseen, of a greater force, a larger being, a life beyond. My baby brought me faith and hope, and as the months have stretched into years, he has brought me peace, happiness and so much joy.
My fella.
My compassionate, not perfect (phew!), but perfectly wonderful boy. My fellow traveler through the Harry Potter series. Smart, creative, compassionate, silly, sweet and now a super swimmer and who knows what's to come! Someday, maybe, he will find this post at a moment when he really, really needs to see it, and he will know he alone owned a lion's share of space in his mother's heart from the moment he entered the world until the day she leaves it... and probably well beyond that.
He had a little birthday event, but not a big party this year. Little Miss will be 12 and I explained 12 was more a milestone than 8, and the budget dictates we cannot plan two gala events within two week's span of time. I intend to tell him that every day and every year that passes that I get to be his mother and watch his life evolve is worth celebrating.
He will get presents for his birthday today... and he will have no idea that he is, in fact, the gift.
