twenty-two

A plan was hatched to meet out at the university and have supper at the legendary Chinese buffet.  When the kids heard what the dad and I were planning, they wanted to all come too.

All you can eat?  Okay.   

It was a lot of fun and Jay, I was so glad to be able to have supper with you on your birthday day.

Just for fun, here are some old, goofy pictures:

Here you two are, ready to head to Mall of America, to Camp Snoopy one Memorial Day.  This was way back when Kirsten was taller than you.

Here's a cute one of you uncles and your wild nephew.  He looks pretty calm there.

This is the two of you back when Jimmy was born and you were just about to turn five.  You still pretty much look the same now, just bigger. James is no longer cross-eyed, so that's good.

 Oh yeah, there you are in the front, Mr.  Funny Man.

And this taken by our friend Todd during a very hot week they came from Toronto to stay with us--mostly at the lake.

Jay?  Baby Jay, Little Jay?  How about you now?  All grown up, about to take your biology degree and head out into your own LIFE?

Tell you what, if I could hit rewind so we could go back twenty-two years and do it all over again, I absolutely would.  Knowing you has been that much fun.

I wrote this about you when you turned fourteen, and still the same story:

"The conscientious sweetness of him, his long eyelashes and huge blue eyes, the whole shape of his gentle, lanky person kind of overtake me now. And actually it’s been nothing but a privilege to be his mom." 

"And he was obsessed with the number seven, insisted he was seven. Even when the line at the grocery store was a mile long in Aisle 7, we’d get in that line, just for him. He’d look up at that glowing seven above his head with an awed smile on his little face."

You'll be interested to know, that as I scanned a couple of these old pictures tonight, every single scan identified itself as Scan007.  Just thought you'd like to know that.  It seemed a little coincidental, but hey.

Your joining us transformed this family in so many ways--yeah, to be expected, but also in deeper, complicated, spiritual ways.

(Yes, even with your raunchy sense of humor and bad language, and all.)   This family could not be who it is without you.

Happy Birthday, Jay.   Lucky, lucky us, loving you.   Love, Mom and Dad and Everybody