Happy Birthday, Calder!

Today my youngest baby turns 13. Not even possible.

In May of 1996, Dale and I were in Orlando for his work conference.  I was flipping through TV channels when a program caught my attention.  Being interviewed was a woman who had suffered several miscarriages but was later able to carry a baby to full term.  I paid attention to the details of her story with tears streaming down my face.  Just a few months prior, I had experienced my third miscarriage.

We came back from Orlando, and I found out I was pregnant.  I bee-lined straight to my doctor who had also been doing research on the same medication I learned about in Florida.  I began the medication immediately by way of a needle in my abdomen attached to an infusion pump I wore 24 hours a day.  Thirty seven weeks and forty thousand dollars later, we were blessed to welcome our 3rd child.

I cannot even begin to describe the joy this child has brought to our lives.  He is witty and charming.  He is kind and caring.  He is talented and bright.  He has been adored by school secretaries, grocery clerks, dear friends, and, of course, his family. 

And now, he is a teenager.  I am cherishing each day.  I know he will be in high school tomorrow and off to college next week.  I know this to be true because it was just yesterday that my friends would take turns holding him  because he refused to exist apart from a lap.   It was just yesterday when a doctor at the clinic peeked into the baby carrier and proclaimed that Calder was the most beautiful baby he had ever seen (and the doctor had two children of his own).  It was just yesterday, when he was 10, that he wrote "You are the bomb" on the plaque for my dad's memorial service.  It was just yesterday he handed me a note that said, "It's quite possible that you are the best mom in the whole, wide world.  May we please eat Mexican food for lunch?"

Throughout his young life, this kid has been a peer model in school, a stroke recovery incentive for my mom, and a chick magnet used by guys in the youth group (and his very own brothers).  He is an enthusiastic participant in Daddy Date Night.  He is a budding artist.  He is a collector.  He is a joy.  I don't know what he will choose to do when he grows up, but I know what he will be when he grows up: Amazing.

Calder, you are a wonderful young man.  You're worth every needle stick, every penny, every prayer.  If I tried to use just one word to describe you, it would have to be the word you made up when you were about 3: Mooduhbuhshay.

Happy Birthday, my precious baby.  I love you so.