Happy Birthday, G-Man's Daddy!

My middle son turns 29 today.  This picture was taken 22 years ago, on his 7th birthday.  It was the year he got the Jurassic Park compound playset (his own personal Red Ryder b-b-gun) as his big gift.  Pretty exciting stuff.

I don't know where the time is going, folks.  I can't help repeating that tired old cliché: it seems like yesterday!  Or that other one: my, how time flies! Because it really does.  I remember the impish, stick-thin little boy in this photo so very well.  He was just the sweetest little guy, with the most endearing smile

I don't just remember him at 7, though.  I remember him at all of his stages of life.

I remember him in the hospital the day he was born, all 9 lbs. 13 oz. of him.  His shoulders were so broad, he got stuck in the birth canal; they almost had to break those poor little shoulders to get him out of there.  (Is that TMI?)

This photo was a "professional" shot (by 80's standards), taken
before we left the hospital.

 I remember him on his first birthday, in 1987--oh my goodness, what a cute kid he was.

And I remember him at 5, when this picture was taken--with him looking quite debonair in his suspenders, sporting a buzz cut and nubby little baby teeth.

I remember him as a handsome high school senior, getting ready to head off to Notre Dame...

...and as a beaming 27-year-old brand-new husband in 2013.

Every stage of son #3's life has been a treat for his dad and me.  We have been so proud of this hardworking, kind, funny, and thoughtful young man.

But I don't think we're ever been prouder than we are now, as we watch him in his role as a doting and very hands-on father to his first son, G-Man.



We've told our kids that they can never really know how much their parents love them until they have children of their own.  Well...now he knows.

We love you, dear son and G-Man's daddy.  Happy, happy Birthday!