To my son, Aaron

To my Son
May 2012

19 years ago today, my life changed forever. I became the mother of a baby that never slept, a toddler that knew more about the world than I did and then a young boy that had to always be touching me. A sticky finger or the side of his foot, he was attached to my heart with his smile and his constant non- stop barrage of questions for which I had no answers. Thank the Lord for the bathroom reader books. From there to a young man who grew too big for my car, then too big for my house. This has been a wonderful and rocky ride. We had some white water knuckle grabbing times and we took turns reaching into the churning waters of life, grabbing each other’s hands, pulling our heads above the water line and holding on until we had caught our breath. We also had times on the top of the mountain when we couldn’t stop laughing and the days seemed like magic.
From his obsessions with rocks to dinosaurs to Pokémon to dolphins to Kato Kato to My Little Pony…to….only the Lord knows what is next, he has remained true to himself and his journey with a courage and maturity seldom seen.
He remains the smartest kid I know, the kindest gentlest animal lover out there, the man with the biggest heart in the world. He drives me crazy by (deliberately) putting his hand prints in places I can’t reach (the ceiling). He loves to get me on my soap box and goads me until I am mid-rant and realize that once again I have been set up. His unique sense of the world has made me laugh for 18 years. From his childish insistence on words being pronounced phonically (yacht and Reggie) to his crazy mimicry of Monty Python, he is my favorite stand-up comedian.
His black and white way of looking at the world keeps me on my toes with debates that never seem to end and family dinner times that resemble a university philosophy class. He challenges me, keeps me honest, holds me to my own words and demands as much character from me as I demand from him.
We are a team with our own silent and sometimes not-so-silent language. I will always have his back as he always has mine. He has been a challenge, a joy, a frustration, a prayer and a gift. Happy birthday baby.