Children

I have to admit I was raised the "old fashioned way". That being that I read and believed in all the fairy tales and romance stories and that someday my Prince would ride into my life on a white horse, carry me away to his castle, and we would live happily ever after. Well, I got my Prince, with a few warts, and he got his Princess, with a few warts of her own. And, I think I can say we are living happily, even though there have beens some bumps along the way. But we've worked through them and here we are 43 years later.



The one thing that has turned out just the way I wanted and expected was my children. They are, without doubt, my greatest joy in life. Everyday I marvel at how wonderful they both are. They both are loving, caring, hard-working, fun, funny, smart and great parents. I'm sure I've left something out that they'll give me a bad time about but I'll take my lumps later. I feel so lucky that they both continue to involve us in their lives. I consider them my greatest accomplishment. OK, so I have to give some credit to their father as well.



But, today, I want to focus on my son, Jason. Because today is his 38th birthday. The kid's birthdays' always cause me to reflect about them. I can remember the day was "got" Jason just like it was yesterday. I say "got" because we adopted him. We received a phone call from the agency telling us that we were chosen to be the parents of a baby boy that was four weeks old. We were to pick him up in another city in a couple of weeks to bring him home. Have you every tried to put a nursery together in two short weeks?

Anyway, we were both so excited we could hardly sleep. When the day came we were both so nervous. We left town two hours before we really needed to just to make sure we got there on time. Of course, once we arrived we were way too early but we had to find the place so that we knew exactly where it was because we didn't want to be late. We went to some small cafe to get something to eat but we were both so excited neither one of us could eat anything. We drove to the location and we were so early we had to sit and wait in the waiting room for at least an hour before our appointed time.

Finally, they took us into the "baby room". This was a room set up as a nursery. It had a changing table and a rocking chair. The door opened and in came a lady carrying our baby. She handed him over to me to hold. I can't even explain the overwhelming emotions I had at that moment. Immediately Jason and I bonded maternally. As I rocked him in the chair, his eyes kept following Greg around the room. This amazed all of us since he was only six weeks. I gave him over to Greg to hold and he rocked him for a while and held his hand.

We were told we could take as much time as we wanted in the room. We were told to bring our own clothes so we had to dress him. Once again, we were so nervous I think it took us over an hour to get him dressed. And then, we drove him home with us. No car seat but laying flat, on a baby blanket, on the car seat between Greg and I. Can you imagine!!!

Jason, I love you more than I can ever tell you. I love to watch how loving and caring you are with your own children. And, I'm so proud to be your mother. Happy Birthday, sweetheart.