Happy 40th Birthday, Eric!

Today is my son's 40th birthday.  He will probably never see this post....but today, as he turns 40...there are just so many feelings I want to express.  Eric did not grow under my heart...he grew in it.  I married his father when he was just 4 and I was 21.  He stole my heart from the first moment I ever met him.  He was all boy....I grew up with Eric.  I was barely 16 years older than he was.  I had a lot to learn as a parent.  I know throughout his life I made mistakes....cause parenthood does not come with a manual.  I made sure they went to church.....and every single VBS in town.  I remember one time...his dad was not going to church with us.....he was BASS fishing on Sundays....and I got Eric up....and he informed me that he "could not wait to be big like his daddy so he would not have to go to church anymore."  Ronnie went to church after that.  He was so much fun.  He loved swimming in the lake, he loved when I pulled out my guitar, he loved life.  I remember the last time I spanked him...he was 9....and he had messed with his grandmother's quilting stuff.  I popped his seat with my hand...one time....he had a back pocket full of matchbox cars and I ended up with a busted blood vessel in my hand.  Eric was not a perfect child...but he was a much loved one.  From the time he became a teen....I thought of him as my friend....not just my son.  I was married to his father for over 20 years....I cried the day he left for boot camp as though someone had ripped my heart out, I sang at his first wedding, and cried when his marriage fell apart.  I attended his wedding to Roulain....and loved her...and her girls.  He was now a father....and I knew he would be a good one...because he had such a gentle heart.  I was there...and cried tears of joy when Hayden was born.  He is the child who will make sure Eric pays for every bad thing he did when he was a child....I adore him.  Hayden is Down's Syndrome...and believe you me....nobody loves you like Hayden does.

 He is precious.  I was there barely nine months later when Hannah was born way to early.  I spent many days and nights in Birmingham with them....praying for this precious baby to fight....and fight she did.  She is a princess.

 In 2000 when I divorced his father....Eric and I tried to maintain the status quo...but it was not easy.  I know he is there....anytime I have needed him....I have called and he has been there....if he could.  Today....this precious boy child I fell in love with over 30 years ago...is 40.  I am so proud of what he has become and who he is.

 I love him today....just like I did when I first met him at age 3.  You can't help but love him.  He is something else.  Happy birthday Eric.  Here is to many many more.