Happy birthday Isaac Earl

 20 years ago today I gave birth to a son.  Claire was 2 and a half, and we had just moved into our second home as a family.  I was 33 years old and when I met this child I fell in love like I never knew I could....it was a whole new version of love.  It was different than mother-daughter love.....it was set-apart-special and unique.  I still cannot find words to explain what it means for a mom to love her son.  It is very, very deep and it almost hurts.  For me, to have a son and a daughter, to get to be a mother and a wife.....was an overwhelming gift. 

 Isaac was a hard baby.  He didn't sleep.  He spit up all the time.  He wanted to be in my arms 24/7.....he wasn't happy....I learned a lot about being a mom from Isaac.  The things he taught me are lessons I still impart to the moms I work with in my public health home visits 20 years later....and I can tell them that it will get better, they will survive.  

This reflux, tender tummy baby grew into a fiesty, fiery toddler who was fearless.  He rode his scooter all over the parking lot, zipping down hills crouched down low like a surfer on a wave before he was 3 years old....he rode bike without training wheels before he could read books, and when he learned to read he never broke a sweat.  I soon learned he wasn't just really coordinated and brave, he was also really, really smart.  And kind of naughty.  

Isaac always knew who he was, what he liked and didn't like, what he wanted and what he didn't tolerate.  He is a young man now and that is still true.  He is in college, has good friends, works hard and is planning for his future.  I texted him the other day because we don't see him much any more, and asked if we would see him today for his birthday.  He said yes, he hoped to come for dinner tonight (we do family dinner on Sunday nights regularly and sometimes he and his girlfriend Paulina and his best buddy Udi come join us).   Then he asked if he still got to request his birthday meal.  This is a long-standing tradition in our family as well.  I said, of course he could request his meal and I could almost predict what he was going to ask for but I asked anyway because it gave me so much pleasure to know.  He asked for steak, cheesy potatos, brussel sprouts (the good kind with bacon) and nana Barb's dinner rolls....and cheese cake with strawberry drizzle.  I mean....c'mon.  So that's what we had tonight and we celebrated this guy as he said farewell to the teens and hello to a new decade of 20s.  

He's much less work now.