Happy birthday daniel james

Today is Danny's 22nd birthday. We talked yesterday and I mentioned that there's really not much to look forward to in Birthdays once you get past 21. He disagreed and mentioned that at 25 you can rent a car and at 35 you can be president. I added, "And at 26, you can't be on my health insurance any longer".

Dan was our only summer baby. He was the smallest at 6lbs 3 oz,and was delivered by the now dead doc who I mentioned in an earlier blog. He was a surprise but so were the other two. It is amazing to think that if we had planned (can people really do that) any of our kids, they would all be totally different. I remember the day I found out I was pregnant. It was about 4 days before Bruce's vasectomy. I was happy even though I was surprised, and I cried. For some reason, I saw one more kid in the future for us, even though we took preventive measures. I swear it was his Mormon relatives who stayed with us - I think they poked holes in my diagphagm. If they did this, I am grateful to them. I have never regretted one day of having Dan, or our other two.

I worked right up till the day Dan was born. I went in for a checkup and my blood pressure was high so I had to be induced. That was not much fun but Dan was born faster than the other two. He was a skinny baby - maybe a little overdone, since he was a few weeks overdue. I can still see the look on my other two kid's faces when they saw him for the first time - wonder, love and disbelief all wrapped up in one look. It was great to have the summer off that year, but I cried when I had to go back to work, just like I did with the other two.

Dan grew fast and lost that old man look in a few weeks. He was a happy baby and we all still laugh at some of the things he said - he learned to talk pretty fast having two older siblings. My favorite was "Mom, you're all chubby and naked!", which he said to me when I got out of the shower. He was a happy kid (still is for that matter) and easily hurt. "Mom, why do you have your angry face on?" he would say to me if I was mad. He would sometimes accuse me of "acknoring" him if Ididn't listen. I started to always listen to him after he told me once he was going to jump off the roof so he could have a near death experience. He wanted to find out what it was like to die. So, we started going to church and on his first day of Sunday school, he came out of the class looking dejected. "None of my questions were answered!" he said, when I asked him why he had such a long face. And Dan, I bet to this day, your questions still aren't answered - not many people get answers although many claim to have all the right ones.

Dan could always roll with the punches and wasn't bothered much at things that might bother other kids. He endured his older siblings teasing him. He loved a pair of fish bedroom slippers, but hated his red plaid pjs which he called "toopid jammies". Like all the other kids, he talked to much in school but got good grades without too much effort. I had a hard time letting him go out into the world and he once reminded me (when he was 18 or so) "Mom I am not 12 any more". Strangely I did need to be reminded of that because I did not want to let him go - he was my baby. Throughout his childhood though he maintained that positive outlook and optimism that can be good but can also open a person to being disappointed and hurt because other people take advantage.

Happy Birthday son. Look how far you have come. You graduated from college, and are going to graduate school. You have a car and a great job. I know you will get into medical school and be a great doctor someday. I hope nothing in life causes you to lose your positive outlook. I love you and am proud of you. And I finally will admit you are no longer 12.