Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, mein Sohn!

Today David is 18. Wow! You can figure it out: the boy was born on the Feast of the Baptistm of Vladimir of Kiev. The 1000th annivesary of that event, to be exact. I was all set to name him Vladimir, but I was overruled.

David, when he was little, was one motor mouth. He talked in bed before he got up in the morning; he talked all day; he talked when it was time to go to bed at night. He didn't need you to pay attention because he had this little trick of looking AWAY from you and still talking. He talked with clarity before his older sister and used to act as her interpreter. (When her birthday rolls around I'll have to tell you all about her multi-use words!)

He was my secret weapon in getting rid of children's sermons at St. Paul's. I asked a question one day and he started answering and he went on and on and on. I turned to the congregation and said: "And THAT'S why we're not doing children sermons anymore." I have never done another one, and had no complaints either.

One day we were walking home from the library and he was chattering away: "Who is that man up there, pappa?" I was getting irritated with all the talking and said rather sharply: "I don't know, David. How am I supposed to know?" He said, "Well, he may be a friend!" Out of the mouth of babes.

I used to pick him up after preschool and we'd go to Hardees for a treat. You know, thinking that FOOD would keep him quiet. Fat chance. He had and has no problem talking with food in his mouth. We get into the car on the way home and I say: "Honey, you need to shut your door; it's open." He piped up without hesitation: "No, pappa. In a car, when the door is open the word is ajar. The door is ajar." He was always surprising with little goodies like that.

Well, the talking has grown far, far less. But he still is quite open and freely shares with us. I love that. I love that the kids talk to us about their sorrows and their joys. He's still affectionate (he always hated to be put down; had to carry him all the time!), and he's grown to be quite a young man indeed. Much taller than his dad. Much broader than his dad. He's got his black belt in Tae Kwon Do, so his dad has only tickling left as a weapon to use against him - and he's usually helpless when it comes to tickling. He loves Macs (go, dude! - he hates it when I say "dude"). He has a lovely young lady that he hangs with (and who needs to come visit us!). Today, we'll be celebrating his birthday with a man-sized feast at Red Lobster (yea, he eats like a horse, no two ways about it; he's planning on lobster, crab legs, shrimp and scallops). He's quite a man. His mother and I are very proud of him.