a 9-year old's face...

Have you ever been to a child's birthday party? If you're a parent, I'm sure you have (well, duh...I have such a firm grasp of the obvious, don't I?). We threw my son his 9th birthday party yesterday, and to look into his face as he was opening his presents was simply amazing.

He got clothing, Lego toys (his very favorite activity when he's over our house is to build Lego things...he can do that for hours!), a bag full of little dollar store things (kids love that stuff!). But when he opened the card that Kathleen and I gave him, we got to see just how much he appreciates things. Granted, he was full of "thank yous" and "I love its" and "wow, this is so cools," but this sight was just plain great.

We gave him his card, telling him the present was inside. Now, what do you think goes through a 9 year old's head at that point? He was thinking he was getting a wad of cash or nothing at all. Little did he know we paid attention when he was asking for a couple of things last week.

Once he tore it open in true 3rd grader fashion, his little certificate dropped into his lap. With a quizzical look on his face, he read the card, which was inscribed with a note from Kathleen, telling him we were taking him to the circus. That was met with some shouts of joy (an absolute treat to watch...I swear). But after being told to look at the certificate again, he sat down to really read what was on it. That's when he found out he's getting a new bowling bag, just like Daddy's, in the color he gets to pick out on his own. He was actually speechless (something that is fairly uncommon for both him and me).

Watching all this yesterday reminded me of the old cliche, "that's what it's all about." And it's really true...watching him grow is what it's all about. I love it. I love him. He's my boy, no matter what happens. If there's one thing that makes me proud, it's watching my son grow and excel at the things that matter (like school, doing the right thing, etc.).

So, Danny and/or Fast Al, when you read this...you'll be seeing my boy very soon. He'll want to chat with you about colors for his brand new bowling bag. We'll be doing some business on that shortly!