Driving time

So Sean's birthday has come and gone, and he wasted NO time in preparing to drive. This morning, while he was home from school, he took the online drug and alcohol test, passed it, and registered for the two remaining tests for later this week. So by the end of this week I will have a driving child! Thankfully he has to drive with me for the next year, but in all honesty I'm not concerned with him. He'll do just fine.

We didn't have a party today, but he did have on this past Saturday that ended with seven of his best friends (boys and girls) spending the night and the following day. They were a great bunch of kids, and they had a great time.

(Just before we started singing Happy Birthday-a few friends in the background)

I made his birthday cake for his party, so today he got to pick a dessert to have on his actual day. He chose a cheese danish. We spent the day together; me, Sean and one of his best friends, Aspen (I picked her up early from school, too). It was a nice day, and he got to do what he wanted to do-take the driving test!

Sean is the child that made me a mother. He is my first born, and so much like his mother that it almost isn't funny. He is a gentle boy in a giant's body. As most of you already know he came into this world at a whopping 11 lbs. and 23 inches, and he continues to blow the charts. At 15 he is 6'2" and 230 lbs., and wearing a size 16 in men's shoes. Nobody ever believes that he is as young as he is. However, those that really get to know Sean get a real treat. He has a heart of gold, and is willing to help anyone at the drop of a hat. He volunteers with me at Shriner's and Hope Lodge (for cancer patients), and he will be going to Peru with me and Tony this summer to help Dr. Lazzara and his house full of 30-50 sick children. Sean has always seen the best in everyone, and continues to do that now. When he is with these sick children he treats them just as he would any one of his friends-he sees past the illness, and through to the real person. He always has. There is one story that I often tell people that give insight into the type of person he is, and the ability that he has to put judgement of those that are different aside:

Sean was four, and in a daycare during the day while I worked (I was a single mom to Sean and Bren). A new girl came to the daycare, and was in Sean's "class". She had Down's Syndrome. I noticed that every day when I picked Sean up he would be sitting with her, playing games, singing, or doing arts and crafts-no different than he had ever done with any of the other children. After a couple of weeks of her attendance at the daycare his teacher pulled me aside one afternoon and told me that Sean was the only child in the class that would play with her. The others were constantly asking the teacher what was wrong with her, and seemed to be afraid of her. But Sean never saw that. She was his friend. The teacher told me that it was so heartwarming to her that Sean never pulled away from her. A few months later I was pulled into the office by the director, and in the office were the parents of the little girl. They, too, had noticed that every afternoon Sean was playing with their daughter, and they were touched. They had asked to speak to me, and they wanted to thank me for raising such a wonderful son, and for giving their daughter someone like him. They told me that she spoke often of Sean, and it was him that made her transition to the daycare as easy as it was.

That was Sean. That's who he was, and who he is now.

I love you, Sean. You are such a sweet, caring, loving, and intelligent young man, and I am so proud of what you have accomplished. More than anything I am happy that I am your mom, and you are my son.