November 28, 2001
This tiny baby boy was born in the middle of a snowstorm. Not the usual Abilene snow of an inch or less.... we're talking 5-6" of snow coming down fast. Hubby likes to joke that it was the New Yorker in me that I was passing down to our son. It wasn't the easiest birth, and at first he wasn't breathing. There was a swarm of nurses and doctors crowded around the little table where he was, and all I could hear was, "He's not breathing. He's not crying."
I was able to stop in the NICU for a minute on my way to my room, and as soon as I saw him there with the little heart shaped patch connecting him to a machine, my heart overflowed with love. I looked at his tiny face and saw his dad, who had already completely captured my heart.
I will never forget that day, or those scary minutes after he was born, or those hours I had to wait before I could finally hold him. I never knew how much love a heart could hold until that day.
Today, November 28, 2019 my baby boy becomes a man. Today, we celebrate his 18th birthday.
I remember everything about being his mom for the past eighteen years, and yet somehow I blinked and this guy has taken that little boy's place.
I don't even have the words to express how much he means to me. He's the one who made me a mom. He inherited his dad's sense of humor, his mom's soft heart and he's easygoing and friendly like his big brother.
He loves trains (still), video games (still), and band (still). He works hard at his job and not so hard at his (piece of cake) senior year of high school. He is quirky and handsome and loyal and smart. He has surrounded himself with a wonderful group of friends and a very special girlfriend.
I with I could adequately express how proud he makes me every single day. Looking back through the hundreds (maybe thousands) of pictures I've taken in the last two decades, I had a hard time just picking some to post. His smile and long eyelashes and sparkly brown eyes...... every picture is a memory that touches my heart.
Happy 18th Birthday J. Your future is so bright!
