Happy Birthday to my firstborn

Today my first baby turns 17!  Hard to believe this 6'2" boy on the verge of being a man once lived inside me, that there was a time when Mom was the only girl in his life and all it took to bring a look of sheer joy to his face was to tell him Daddy was home.

I am so very proud of who he is and excited to see what path he chooses in the coming years.  At the same time, how very much it hurts to see him begin to stretch out his wings in preparation to fly this nest,  'because being a mother is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body' (Elizabeth Stone)

This photo is from his birthday last year, with Fr. Gordon, with whom he shared both a middle name and birthday.  It is the last photo I have of them together, and Fr. Gordon's last birthday on this side of eternity.  Memory eternal, and many years to my not so little boy!