Sunrise, Sunset...

Sky Trek

Today is the first day of the final year that I will have a teen-aged child. (How's that for making this all about me?)

Today Boy#4 is 19.

There is something different in the parenting of the child you know will be the last one. With the other Boys, the first birthday had to be special; the second birthday was always covered in a cloud of Hey!-Here's-Your-New-Brother! With Four, though, I was able to completely enjoy every stage of babyhood. There was no need to begin the separation process from my youngest child in anticipation of the demands of the next infant.

And Four, as each of his brothers had done before him, turned out to be his own individual brand of delight. We called him our Under-the-Radar Child, for his ability to let others take the spotlight. But he also was unafraid--one of my favorite pictures of Four shows him rigged up for our Costa Rica zipline adventure. He's surrounded by older, bigger guys, not saying anything but showing no fear. It was a good metaphor for his personality.

Happy birthday, Four. I'm glad I'm your mom.