19? 19?

My son Eric (pictured here at Country Thunder with Kelly Pickler..of dubious American Idol fame) turned 19 this past week. NINEFREAKENTEEN! That makes me...well let's see, I had him when I was three...so...OKAY...I was 24 when I had him! See why I have to use the Olay Definity products???? I can still remember with clarity my entire pregnancy with him. I remember being ridiculously large. My labor was impossibly long and then after two and a HALF (the last thirty minutes were the worst) hours of pushing....it was deemed that his great big head was hopelessly stuck. Enter anesthesia team with a great big hammer to knock me out. I awoke and a nine pound, 11 ounce, cone-headed TODDLER was placed in my arms. He immediately frowned at me with his very pronounced eyebrows. Sort of like "YOU'RE the MAMA???"

He's a wonderful young man now. I don't always agree with him (that's because he's ninefreakenteen), but he's gentle and compassionate, driven and hard working. My favorite story is one from when he was still in senior high Sunday school. The class had taken a trip to the Indiana Dunes and all the kids were climbing the dunes but one. One of the girls, a disabled girl who had very few friends, was watching from the bottom while the other kids played and climbed on the sand. Eric went down, lifted her up and carried her to the top of the dunes so that she could be at the top with the rest. Something that has always spoken to me about his character.

I look at Eric now and I see a man. Not a boy that I can tell what to do or even direct through life. But a man that I can offer consultation to, but have to know that he will in the end make his own choices. But knowing his character...I'm so okay with that.