Wednesday, May 14, 2008

10 lovely years

For the last while, blogging has taken a back seat to a bigger project. I am finally done (at least for now) and have time do a little catching up.

It's been a busy time and there is much to write about but, most importantly, I need to tell you that on May 10, my first born son turned ten years old.

We celebrated him in grand style, with presents, a movie outing, a walk in the tulips, family, Chinese food and still more presents. The next day, we were informed that the only thing he regrets about his birthday is that "it only lasted for twenty four hours." And he slept for eight of them.

It really was a beautiful day and the birth of this child is a wonderful reason to celebrate.

I like to tell the story of the day he was born. He came into the world on Mother's Day, after I had been labouring at home for many, many hours. When our midwife decided that it was time to head to the hospital, we set out along the route we had planned (we were fairly new to the city). We had to find an alternate route in a hurry, though, as our chosen route (and the fastest one) was closed off, due to a "Mother's Day" race. As I moaned in the car beside him, my poor spouse pulled out a map and plotted a new route to our destination, as the runners streamed by.

I also like to remind S. that his birth was a long, hard, drawn out process. But the truth is that it was all worth it. I love him so much and I couldn't be prouder of this smart, loving, creative, funny boy.

10 things S. did this year to make me proud:

1. Helped his little brother to write a series of stories, with titles like, "The Boy Who Got Stuck in the Toilet," and its sequel, "The Boy Who Got Stuck in the Sink." He then directed the movie version of these stories and created the best movie trailer ever.

2. Travelled to London with his mother, where he was mature, flexible, good-humoured, fun, patient, responsible, thoughtful and a terrific companion.

3. Looked out for his little brother, even when the littler one made that very challenging.

4.Learned to knit, demonstrating persistence and patience.

5.Made me laugh out loud, almost every day.

6.Hugged and kissed me whenever he saw me, even in public and even in front of his peers.

7.Proved time and again that he has a compassionate, empathic soul.

8.Learned to forgive and move on.

9.Was true to himself.

10.Gave me glimpses of the man he will become. I will be proud to know him then. I know I will always feel lucky that this terrific human being is my son.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dammit! You made me cry, and it's not even 7:00 a.m. yet! ;)

Lovely, lovely. Congratulations to you all. The Mother's Day race -- ha, more surreality for you. The birthday -- well, it seems you really know how to do them right at your house.

Here's to more, lots more.

Babz Rawls Ivy said...

Sister,
What a beautiful son. You are so blessed! He sounds like an amazing boy...wise beyond his 10 years!

Great story. Children need their own stories of how they came to be.

Thanks you for sharing. You lifted my spirits!

Anonymous said...

Happy birthday to S., and to you Laurie, for raising such a lovely boy. May each and every year that follows bring more joy and may there be many many more of those.

Mom2Amara said...

Who knew reading "The Boy Who Got Stuck in the Toilet" in a blog post could get me emotional.

Happy birthday to him and to the wonderful woman who brought him into this world.

Mary P Jones (MPJ) said...

That's lovely. A belated happy birthday to your son and happy anniversary of becoming a mama to you. :)