Rant #3,767: Happy Birthday!

This Rant is a pretty easy one to write.

This coming weekend, on Saturday, my son will turn the big 3-0.

My wife and I simply cannot believe it. But yes, he turns 30 years of age on August 23.

Our lives changed forever the moment that he was born--

And for the better, of course.

He was my second child, my wife's first, and I just remember everything so clearly about his birth, just like I do about my daughter's birth seven years earlier..

With my son, I remember cutting the umbilical cord, and bringing him home from the hospital, being extra careful when I drove him and my wife home.

I remember feeding him at night, and the two of us dozing off with "Gomer Pyle, USMC"  on the TV.

And I also remember that once he reached school age, being told that he would not amount to anything much.

I would like to forget that remembrance, but I can't.

And that diagnosis was just soooooo wrong.

He is a special needs person, and the general public's perception of him is actually his biggest handicap.

Otherwise, he can do just about anything you or I can do.

But that public perception is something that, I  am afraid, will haunt him during his entire life.

And it is something that is just so very unfair.

He is a fighter, and in his own subtle way, he has been proving people wrong since day one.

And we know that that will continue into the future.

We are taking him out for dinner on Saturday, and on Sunday, we are having a party for him with family and friends.

It should be a lot of fun!

Again, my wife and I cannot believe that he has hit this milestone year, but he will tomorrow.

This has been a tough year for him, but he will survive--

And he will learn from it, and he will be a better person having experienced it.

Good luck to him, happy birthday, and may he celebrate many, many more birthdays proving the so-called experts wrong.

Have a great weekend, and speak to you again on Monday ...

Now I have two kids in their 30s--

That doesn't make me feel old, it actually keeps me young.