Happy Birthday to the former Boy Boy

When Austin was little, Nathan called him "my boy".  That somehow then changed into "the boy".  Usually that name was used in this sentence: Guess what the boy did now!  At some point Austin decided he wanted more and started to call himself the boy boy.  So the boy boy it was.  

Seventeen years ago, this boy boy came into our family and I can think of very few things that have altered the family quite like it.  To say he made things more interesting is an understatement.  It has been an honor and joy to have him in our lives.  Today as I shared with him what his birth and life with us has meant to me personally, I had to also admit that he is no longer our boy boy.  He is almost a man now.  A young man at the very least.  And we most likely have very little time left with him sharing a home with us.  So I'm savoring the time left.

We squeezed in a birthday lunch at the Chinese Buffet because he had to work tonight.  We bought him a red velvet cake that we then promptly ate 1/4 of.  And I promised him a trip where he can cash in his birthday gift money and do something he wants to.  It was not the big party I would have loved to have thrown for him but we still celebrated how special the day was.  It was good.

Happy Birthday, Austin.  There is a part of me that will always see the little boy in you.  And the other part of me sees the wonderful young man you are also.