HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NUMBER ONE SON (#1) !!

Just to keep your birthday in perspective, David, today you are approximately 68 times older than your nephew Lucas and 18 times older than his brother Eli. You are 55 times older than your sister's youngest and 4.75 times older than your youngest daughter. You are about 3 and 2/3 times older than your oldest daughter and she's soon going to be as tall as you are. You are almost 3 times older than your sister's twins and close to 1 and 1/2 times older than your brother's wife.

Now you are in the group closest to you: you are 15% older than your brother but only 5% older than your wife and your sister. You are just 4% older than your sister's husband, and finally there you are at par with yourself, no matter how young or old you feel!

In an ever closer relationship with your parents, you are only 2/3 rds of your sweet mother's age and roughly 63% of my age. In one final leap of reality, you are mighty close to half of your grandfather's age today.

It's time we had a talk and that I told you what my Dad once told me.

(No, not that!)

He said that every day you get up, something different is going to twinge, and a new pang or ache is going to nag for your attention. Things are going to begin to be higher up, further away, noticeably heavier, and everything is going to take longer. Light bulbs are going to be dimmer, voices softer, food is going to be blander, and there will be more hulls in your popcorn. It will be further to the mailbox and to the store, prices will always be higher than you thought they were or should be. You will remember when you could get a good cup of coffee at a fair price, but you will have to check on when your anniversary comes. It becomes easier to wear slip-ons than to tie your laces; indeed, you may have trouble even finding decent laces for your dress shoes because China or Bangladesh or someplace somewhere stops making them. It will be more difficult to take all your pills in one handful, you will think twice about which "hot" sauces you can safely use, and most of your clothes will shrink. There will be a new, similar list like this every day.

You get the idea.

However, you are becoming wiser, gentler, more thoughtful, more compassionate, more generous, and you more deeply appreciate it when young folk step aside for you or let you go through a doorway first. And call you "Sir".

You are going to find that the calendar has really lost dimension, 'cause in what will seem like only a couple of years, you will be fifty years old. So, Son, enjoy your youth while you can, and be assured that the best way to spend your time - the most valuable way to invest each hour is to spend it with family making memories. Those are times you will never regret, especially if you can remember them. Ain't it the truth!!

Happy Birthday!