A Birthday without pictures

Luke celebrated his golden birthday a few days ago. I believe that is what the little girls around here call it...you know turning 10 on the 10th. And here I am....the mother of a ten year old. For some reason, I find this birthday hard. Yes, I may have gotten a bit misty-eyed when I dropped him off for his first day of kindergarden, and our first t-ball game seemed to come all too soon. But a ten year old.....a decade spent parenting a baby (and a willful one at that) into a young man. I don't know how this is possible. I spent the night before Luke's big day weeping in bed. My husband still thinks I'm nuts, as he reassured me...."You know, he's a great kid...." He is. And that is perhaps the cause of tears. Ten is so old......he will be gone so soon. Letting go is so hard.

Luke, while still strong-willed at times, has grown in so many ways. That little baby who insisted on screaming for 20 full minutes before falling off to dreamland at night, now spends minutes, if not hours, in bed reading books I've never dreamed of reading. Greek myths, roman myths, adventures, science fiction, history books. The child will take textbooks to read, if there isn't anything else new around the house. And while he may not be a big fan of actually falling asleep, he now eagerly anticipates "going to bed".

Luke can change a diaper. He can entertain little kids with silly games, mostly involving jumping and running and tickling. He can cook some food items. He can answer the phone and now even makes calls Mom would rather avoid..."Hello, I was wondering if my mom may have returned a video to the library that really belongs to the movie store."

Luke can assess a situation and realize a friend is in need or their feelings are hurt and he attempts to make it better. Luke will offer to carry heavy items for elders, pick up dropped items at the grocery store, and try to help whenever asked.

Granted, we have qualities and traits we are working on, but I'm not ready to think too long and hard about about him being grown-up. I have joy having him here.

And so, due to a Mom moment as Luke likes to call it, I have very little in the way of pictures for his special day. I couldn't find the camera. I found it today. It was behind the piano, against the wall. That beats where I thought it was....yep, at the library....we even called.

But here are the details. He turned 10. The party invitation went something like this.....Please bring your guns, ammo and protective gear.....actually the tears may have started then for me....He had an airsoft battle with his friends. They all wore camo. They played in the woods. It was all the younger kids against the two teenagers. They had a blast. The younger kids lost. All the families stayed. We swam. The sisters all had a tea party. We grilled out. We had so many people that I RAN OUT OF FOOD. I felt very bad, as my hubby and another late arriving dad ate left over stew. They even ate it cold for some reason or another. The boys played basketball. They had ping pong games. We had a camo cake. Luke really, really, really liked his cake. The cake decorating classes payed off with his excitement over his cake. I did get a picture of the cake on my phone. I don't know how to dowload it onto the computer.

And now it is back to school, sports, and watching a child grow more into a young man and man of God every day. And I am so very thankful to be a part of it.