My Son!

Today is my son's 22nd birthday! OMG, what an amazing son he is. Since I can (this is my blog you know), I will take a little walk down memory lane. I was not your typical "pregnant" woman. I really never did let myself get real excited over being pregnant or becoming a mom. It wasn't for any other reason other than I was told since about 15 or so that I would most likely not be able to get pregnant due to some female medical problems and then at first the pregnancy was less than perfect so I really didn't want to get too excited for fear things wouldn't turn out so well. Fortunately for me (and in my opinion the world), things did turn out just perfectly. He was born via C-section and was perfect. I know every parent says that about their child, but honestly, he was!

What a joy he was from day 1. I was in love. It was the kind of love only a parent can know. He was just the cutest thing I'd ever seen. I have to admit though, the first year wasn't my favorite. It wasn't for any other reason than he just basically laid there. Once he developed his little personality and became mobile I loved it! He was so dang cute and sooooo busy! I actually loved that part of it. We just meshed. He didn't sleep much. In fact, it wasn't until the end of kindergarten that he actually slept all night for the first time. Yes moms, he was almost 6 years old before he slept through the night. Of course, I don't know if you could call it sleeping through the night when I realized he hadn't gotten up I ran in and pulled him out of bed to make sure he was still breathing. As everyone in the house and my neighbors discovered very quickly, he was very much still breathing. (sorry Chadman)

From probably 2 yrs old to around 6 yrs old were so much fun. I would imagine it was more fun for Chad and I than anyone else, because that little man was one busy little fellow. I know I wasn't the ideal mom especially when it came to meal time, but neither Chad or myself were all that crazy about eating. I would put his plate down and he would take a bite then run play and it would sometimes take him all afternoon to finish his little plate of food. I did the same thing so again, it worked for us.

Let me just share a few little adventures and little things you might not know or remember about Chad as a young man. He loved country music (especially Alan Jackson (Wanted) and Garth Brooks). He had his guitar and microphone and cowboy hat on constantly. He also loved sports. Anything that included a ball he would watch. I never had to worry much about him watching anything else on TV, but those two things. One day it was nice outside and I told him he should come outside with me and he said I can't I'm watching TV. I asked what he could be watching since there were no ballgames on and he said (honestly) bowling. I'm like, are you kidding me? Who the heck watches bowling (especially at 4 years old). Another thing you might not know about Chad is he went through a stage where he kept saying things were on fire. One day he said my room is on fire as an example. I would tell him over and over that isn't something you joke about. Well, one day we were trying to get ready to go somewhere and he comes in to say the microwave was on fire. I fussed at him and told him he wasn't suppose to joke about that. He just kept on. Finally I told his father to see what he was talking about and give him a spanking if he was joking. Well, unfortunately, he wasn't joking! He put his microphone in the microwave and it caught fire. Lucky for us, it was under a cabinet so we had to call the fire department to check things out to make sure the house didn't burn to the ground. One day he hid from his father while I was at work and when he called to tell me he lost him I freaked out. Come to find out he hid in the dryer. I explained how dangerous that was and that he should not do that again, but he tried my patience one more time and hid in the dryer so this time i help the button and turned it on for 1/2 a turn and he screamed "MOMMA!" I said, this is why you don't hide in the dryer.

One day we were at Nana and BoBo's and he had gone on one of his many adventures and we couldn't find him. We looked everywhere. Suddenly grandmother called us at the hosue and said did you know Chad was over here? We said NO! He had walked from our house to grandmother's house through the fields and pastures passing several ponds and a lake to get there all by himself and she lived at least 2 miles from us by road. Ugh! I would have just beat him, but he was so dang cute I couldn't. One day we were celebrating something for BoBo and/or Nana and he ran his finger across the bottom of the cake (yes before we were ready to cut into it) and I said don't do that again or you will get a spanking and his said (and I quote), "Not in this lifetime". What? Yes, it was difficult to be upset with all the laughter. Then he and my nephew Timothy wanted to go camping. Ok, so anyone who knows me at all knows I do not camp. Well, daddy and I agreed to let them camp so we went to the back pasture and camped (in a freaking tent). We all went to sleep in our wonderful 5 star sleeping bags and I woke up at some point and said "daddy, everything is wet". Apparently dew is a normal occurance when you camp. I wanted to go back to the house, but wanted to be a trooper for the kids. Well, let me tell you, about 3:00 AM I got up and looked and the only people in the tent were me and daddy! Are you kidding me. We jump up and find that they too got cold and wet and decided to sleep in the truck. What! He also spent the better part of 2 summers as AKA, Jeffery. Basically what that meant was he filled the role of our butler (thanks to BoBo starting that one). He even received a tackle box with his new name "Jeffery" on it. That was so much fun (well, for us).

Then he became a teenager (bless my heart). At 14 he decided (despite being grounded from his roller blades) that he would borrow his buddy's and jump 15 steps (on icy sidewalks) with no helmet. Yep! I think you can imagine how this ended. He falls from approximately 10 feet in the hair and face plants on the sidewalk. Needless to say, he broke a tooth and busted his lip like nobody's business and had road rash all over his right side. He gets stitches in his lip (as you know they rarely even do that) and had a CT scan and a horrible concusion. I was a mess. The list is way too long to continue, but as you can see he was quite the busy little man. Then, when he was 19 years old he came to us and said he wanted to join the Marine Corps. I asked him to wait at least 3 months and truly think about it before making that final decision (which he did) and if at that moment he still wanted to enlist we would support him 100%. After 3 months he said he still wanted to be a Marine so Tebo and I along with the rest of my family supported this decision. This would turn out to be one of the hardest things I would face with him. Boot camp was difficult for the both of us, but he came through it with flying colors. SOI would prove to be just as difficult, but again, we both made it through. What was to come next would prove to me that we both were much stronger than I ever gave either of us credit for being. He would deploy to Iraq. It was scary the entire time he was gone, but I still had so much pride that the pride would far out weigh the fear I had (most of the time). He returned from Iraq to marry the love of his life and they bagan their married life together in San Diego, CA at Camp Pendleton. His wedding was amazing and again proved to be a difficult time. It can be amazing and difficult at the same time. For the first time in our lives I had to share my son with another female. That had never happened before and I wasn't sure where my place with him was now. It turns out I still have a place with him (although it is #2 place now), but I now have a daughter that until my bonus daughters I never had. I really love being her bonus mom. I was scared he wouldn't have time or room for me in his life and I was ridiculously wrong (thank goodness). She and I have become very close and I am so grateful for that. I probably drive them crazy, but they never let me know it if I do.

We are now gearing up for his 2nd deployment (this time to Afghanistan) and it will be his last deployment before his contract with the U.S. Marine Corps is completed. While we dread that day to come we will be glad to see it come and go so they can move on with the next chapter of their lives together and I can start my new chapter.

Being a mom is hard enough and rewarding, but being a mom to a Marine is a whole different ballgame. It is just as hard (if not harder) and oddly enough, just as rewarding (if not more rewarding). So thank you for allowing me to put my heart into words the best I know how. If you hung in there and read the entire "babble", thank you. If not, I totally understand, because most of this silliness only really matters to me. I love you Chad and happy 22nd birthday, son. Love, Mom