Twenty years of life

Last night, on the eve of his twentieth birthday, we celebrated our eldest son's birthday. We had his favorite food - beef stroganoff, rice, green beans and of course, chocolate mayonnaise cake.

Twenty years of life - this young man who came to us when he was thirteen months old. Who arrived with two brown paper bags from a grocery store. One of the bags had his toys in it, the other one had his clothes in it. It was mid-winter, but none of his clothes were winter clothes.

The day after his arrival, I bundled him up as best I could with his summer clothes and hit the stores, looking for pajamas for him and sweaters and long pants that would keep him warm.

None of the retail clothing stores had any winter clothes - they were all gearing up for the spring and summer sales.

We finally hit upon a small, hole in the wall, resale/consignment shop and it was there that my son got his first pair of winter pajamas to wear at our home. They were purple!

Being the eldest of three sons, he has taught me an enormous amount about parenting - and I don't care how old one is, the first child is always the guinea pig for our parenting styles.

I made many mistakes in my parenting with this little boy - now young man, but I believe through the grace of God, that I am learning to be a better parent.

Last night after we ate, we sat around and talked - our 15 year old anxious to be part of the 'adult' discussion.

What I hear from our newly twenty year old is so familiar. The struggles that I too had - the loneliness, the irritation with work, the 'brokeness', the angst of dating - the real work of growing up outside the family home.

Ah yes, twenty years of life and may God richly bless him with many, many more twenties...