May 17 Jesse's Birthday

Sunday:  As "the boys" have gotten older, I've spent extra time and care to design a birthday card for them. It takes me awhile to decide which pictures to use--but also what exactly to say to each of them that adequately expresses my love to them.

This is the card I made for Jesse this year:

Front--These lyrics are from "Forever Young" by Bob Dylan. I used these lyrics a few years ago on Dylan's card too. I always liked the lyrics to this song. Their dad, Jim, was a big "fan" (if he actually was ever what you could designate in one word) of Bob Dylan. Jesse, too, shares a love for music of all kinds. I love this particular picture of Jesse because it looks like he is stretching his arms out to lead a full orchestra of instruments--notice behind him the hundreds of albums AND the stereo and receiver (which is actually IN Jesse's front room presently, restored and in working order!).

Inside Top: These are just various pictures from when Jesse was very young--most of them under age two. Jesse was very tall for his age, even then, and people often had odd expectations for him--probably because he always looked older than his actual age. He didn't actually walk until he was 13 months--just a few weeks before his brother was born; so I was carrying Jesse in my arms while I was 8-9 months pregnant. My obstetrician told me that I should NOT be lifting Jesse (he was 25 pounds), but what were my options? Drag him by the arms?!? Doctors can be so impractical, can't they?

Inside bottom:  This has been a very rough year in Jesse's life. Watching him suffer through a very difficult loss has been painful as his mom--more painful for him. This "note" inside his card was written in light of what he has struggled with.

 

Back:  The photo on the back of his card is from some time in high school. I just thought it was cool that he has a remote in each hand, headphones, wires everywhere ... he's still the same today!

Sunday was Jesse's 46th birthday. I offered to take him out for lunch. What we ended up doing, however, was ordering "out" from Olive Garden so that Jesse could get a meal of shrimp Alfredo that he really likes. It comes with gnocchi soup and breadsticks! I ordered just the soup and breadsticks because I still had leftover pasta in my refrigerator that needs eating before it spoils. We went over to Olive Garden and picked up the food and then brought it back to Jesse's to eat.

After lunch, we picked Kaity up for a few hours. Jesse announced that we were going to watch the movie, "The Last Samurai", which I have never seen--so I was up for it. Kaity was too. The movie was really interesting. Tom Cruise should have had an Oscar for his role in it; I'm not sure if it received any awards back in 2003 when it was in the theaters. Anyway, it was an enjoyable time. What an INTENSE story!! One of those stories where you really love so many of the characters ... and despise others!

I am thankful I was able to spend time with Jesse on his birthday. I love him so much.