Rant #2,476: Good Day Sunshine

It is finally Friday.

Or is it Friday finally?

Whatever the case, it is the last day of the work week.

Or is it the final weekday of the week?

Whatever the case, it is Friday, and in my family, it leads up to a very big weekend, a respite for everything that has been going on for a seemingly interminable time.

On Sunday, August 23, it is my son's birthday, and it is a BIG one, as he turns 25 years old on this day.

I cannot believe it. I remember then he was born, and I could pick him up with one hand.

Now he is a good looking, strapping 25 year old, full of life, full of vim and vigor ...

But with no place to spit it all out.

Things are looking up though.

As I mentioned in yesterday's Rant, bowling centers are opening in New York State this week, and that means the sport that he most loves to play will be available to him once again.

And yesterday, we received information that his bowling league--his main source of social interacton--will be starting its season on September 19, so he will have something to look forward to after the season ended abruptly nearly seven months ago.

Maybe he will go back to work in due time ... that remains the great unknown.

But he turns 25 on Sunday, so I decided to look back to another memorable birthday, his 18th, and here is an edited version of what I wrote in Rant #1,027, dated August 23, 2013:

"Today is my son's birthday.

But it's not just any birthday.

Today he is 18 years of age.

In this society, he is now considered a man, with all the responsibilities that go along with being an adult.

He can legally smoke, drink, vote, and go to war.

So he has many responsibilities now, although I seriously doubt that he will do any of those things I named above, except to vote (I hope).

I remember the day he was born.

My wife, who I must say really looked great when she was pregnant, was just about ready to go, but I almost had to force her to go to the hospital.

We got there, and they determined that she wasn't ready just yet, and we had to walk around to get her so.

We did, the doctor proclaimed that he was going on vacation so "this baby will be born today," since he was a couple of days late in making his debut.

And he was born.

And he was so, so tiny, I think he was even smaller than my daughter was when she was born seven years earlier.

Anyway, he has grown up, and now he is a man.

He just completed his first paying job this year, working in a local camp as a video game expert, where he played video games with the campers.

I told him that that job might be the best job he ever had, doing something all day that he loved. It was like getting paid to pursue your hobby.

Since my son is a special ed kid, and has a learning disability, this is his last year of formal schooling.

He will be looking for work once he gets out of school, and I know it will be difficult, but my wife and I are convinced that he will succeed.

We wish him the very best. He is somewhat immature--I think most kids are today, mainly because of their reliance on the Internet for social activity--and he has that disability, which does hinder him in many ways.

But he is going to make it.

Wow, 18 years old.

I can't believe it.

My wife and I are very, very proud of him, and look forward to his future accomplishments."

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

We continue to be proud of him and proud of his accomplishments.

He has been having them seemingly since he came into this world.

Do you know that he was on the cover of a magazine when he was like three years old--from the back with another child, but here is that cover:

He has been piling up accomplishments since he was as little as he was then.

And seven years removed from his 18th birthday, he continues to have numerous challenges to address and to hurdle ... and we are convinced that based on past experience, he will do just that.

This is going to be a special weekend, and I should have plenty to tell you about it on Monday, so speak to you again that day, and you, yourselves, have a great weekend.

Let's go, let's go, let's go!