Happy Birthday Baby Boy

Jacob is 18 years old today. For me this is a huge pinnacle, my baby is grown up! When that happened, I do not know. He has grown into an amazing young man, with a tender heart and the intelligence of his childhood hero Albert Einstein; or at least the self confidence to convince us of that.

Following are a few of my favorite memories of Jacob.

Christmas, 1996, Making Christmas cookies with Suzie and the kids. Of course it results in a flour fight and some very ugly, yet endearing, cookies for Santa. "What you doing Jacob"? "Wookin' at woo." This was the same year the 'carrot tradition' began. If you don't know what the carrot tradition is, just drive by our house Christmas day and you'll see baby carrots everywhere. If Santa gets cookies then the reindeer deserve carrots, right?

It was nineteen hundred and ninety nine, Jacob is at an after school program, swinging he decides to jump out of the swing; many of us know what happened next. It didn't go so well, Jacob is rushed to the emergency room with a broken femur bone. When all is said and done, Jacob has spent six weeks in a full body cast. What an experience that was for all of us. One of my fondest memories was carrying Jacob outside, putting him in a lawn chair or sitting him on the back of my truck to look at the stars together. Those were some of my favorite moments with Jacob.