22 years ago today, January 27th, I gave birth to an 8#7oz baby boy, David Jack. He is the most amazing young man I have ever met. I was raised with only a sister so had never been around boys, raising the boychild has been a revelation!
I don’t like to use only gender specific toys, so my daughter had trucks and David had dolls, but he was all boy from the beginning. He always wanted to wear a baseball cap, he loved his soldiers, dinosaurs, and trucks. He had a little brown leather bag, one of my old purses, that he kept filled with his things, which he called “fings” and he always knew what exactly was in there. He packed it himself before we left the house and I could say, “What are you bringing today baby boy?” and he would tell me, for example, “a red car, a green one, 3 guys, (plastic soldiers) a rock, 2 pennies, and a rubber band.” It seemed to me he had such a random collection, but it made perfect sense to him, and it cracked me up.
He has always been a big eater, when he was in high school he would often walk to a sandwich shop, walk home eating a footlong sub, wanting to know what was for dinner. He was one of the few teenage boys I knew that took home ec. not to meet girls, but because he wanted to cook, and he is an amazing cook, just last night he made barbecue drummies that were so delicious… he is quite the grill chef as well. He makes food with a subtle, more tasteful difference, just as he has always worn jeans and t-shirts just a little differently than everyone else. He is a unique soul.
He has always been independent, I encouraged that with both children, and after we got divorced I had to work all the time, and one thing led to another, he ended up in treatment and then a kid’s facility, where God found him. He is a strong Christian and a stand up young man with a great work ethic.
He is also a wonderful husband and father, which I gauge on his wife’s happiness, I love seeing him interact with his daughter. It saddens me that most of his father influence as a child was learning how not to be, but the lessons learned paid off in the right way. I am so very proud of my boychild, and will always be grateful to him, for teaching me what joy really is.
