Happy Birthday Stewart

Today is my little boy's twenty first birthday.  I know that everyone says it, but it bears repeating.  Boy, the time sure does go fast.  I don't like to brag, but he is a wonderful young man.  Thoughtful, caring, intelligent, athletic. sense of humor.  On second thought. I do like to brag.....

I've been thinking lately about what Stewart has meant to my life.  It got me to thinking about what Teddy Roosevelt said when he was asked about going on an hunting trip after he was president.  He said something to the effect that it was his last chance to be a boy.  And that is exactly the way I feel about having Stew around here growing up.

I started to remember all the things I would have never done or learned about if Stewart and his sister Aleah hadn't come along.  I would have never known Elmo,or the Count or Gina or Hooper.  I would have never known Fred Rodgers or Mr. McFeeley.  Or Bill Nye.  I wouldn't have known what the Magic School Bus is, or Barney.  Would have never spent so much time in the parks or on playgrounds.

I doubt if I would have ever gone to a soccer game.  Must have been to well over a hundred by now.  I probably never would have gone back to the zoo, or the museum, or the Domes.  I never would have went to a train museum.  And the trips to Chicago for Science and Industry, or the Field museum, or the planetarium, or the aquarium.  Never.  I would have never gone back to Disney World......

I got to be a Cub Scout again.  Oh, Stew was the scout, but I was the "Den Mother" and got to do all the stuff with him.  He was a better scout than I was.  And what about all the family vacations we took.  Probably wouldn't have gone to half the places if the kids hadn't been here.

And then of course there were all the athletic events, from rec to select teams to high school, and all the other stuff in high school.  I had the opportunity to do some coaching.  Met some interesting people.  Never would have went to a track meet.  Never would have went to a band concert, or to a band revue.  All things that have made my life so much richer.

And it has continued in college.  I think a trip to St. Louis is just a short jaunt now.  I get to follow his track team, just as I did his high school team.  I got to go to the Drake Relays.  I've driven like a maniac for five or six or twelve hours to watch him run for two minuets at a time.  All worth it. 

I continue to be impressed with what a fine person he is.  I never got a call from the police, or from school, or from another parent with some kind of problem.  He knows what he needs to do, and just does it.  He actually is the person I wish I could have been.

So here is my birthday wish for you Stewart, on your twenty first.  I know all your work will pay off someday, so I'm not going to wish that for you.  And I could shower you with material things, but you never were much for that type of stuff either (good for you).  My birthday wish for you will be that one day you have a son much like yourself, one who enhances your life as much as you have mine.  Love you, Dad