Birthdays and Growing Up

In the past few weeks, we hosted grandparents (all of them!), celebrated Easter, Jason turned 16, and Grace turned 19.  Jason got to celebrate his birthday by getting his driver's license, going on a camping and fishing trip with his dad and some of his closest friends, and going to an Oakland A's game with his mom and uncle (yes, my brother flew down from Portland to go with us to the A's-Tigers game, so it was as much a gift to me as it was to Jason.  He's my hero, even though he was bad luck for the A's).  Then we were able to met Grace at a Cal Poly baseball game the next day (he was bad luck for them, too - they lost the game as well!) and take her out for breakfast on her birthday before I had to drive Uncle Charles back to the airport in San Jose.

A friend of mine asked me if I now "mourn and cry" on my kids' birthdays for the passing of time, and confessed to me that she has cried on every one of her childrens' birthdays since the oldest one turned ten.  This seems a little wacky to me.  I actually think it's quite fantastic that my kids are growing up.  They are such AMAZING people and I totally enjoy hanging out with them!  Grace is always available to text me 

fashion or decorating advice when I need it, and now that she is 'away' at college, she will have lunch or coffee out with me whenever I want.  And Jason is just hilarious and keeps me chuckling all the time (I will actually miss driving him and his friends around and listening to their conversations.)  It is so fun to have kids who grow up to be people you actually like!