Friday, May 13, 2011

Happy Birthday Austen

Dear Austen,                                                                   

 Today you turn 17. As I write this you are at the ranch blowing things up. Tonight we will celebrate over Dagwood sandwiches and ice-cream cake . But even with this low-key celebration. Your life has been quite the adventure. 

Your sense of humour and spontaneity keep me young. Listening to you in the kitchen with your Floggin Molly voice as you fry eggs saying  I have the luck of the Irish, the height of the Scottish and I get my good looks from the Italians is a pleasure. You bring a certain energy to our home. An energy I deeply appreciate. Yet all the silliness aside, you are growing and maturing so fast I can barely keep up.

   You have just come back from a month in the wilderness. I recognise that the transition from life as Huck Finn to life as Tom Sawyer, has been a little trickier than you had hoped. Life in the civilised world can be tough, and many decisions about the future loom ahead.

 So on this birthday I would like to share with you a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson:

What lies behind us

 

                                                  and what lies before us


are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.



So I offer a toast to you, a young man steeped in compassion, love and kindness within.

Love always,
                      Mom

1 comment:

Mark said...

You have one amazing boy. But I guess you already knew that. Sorry for boring you with the obvious.
Happy Birthday to Austen!
Markl