I surely am glad that I am not where I was 19 years ago or even 18 years ago. Childbirth is a breeze for some, a terrifying experience for others. My first attempt at childbirth was quite difficult, but as most mothers will testify, the product, my first son, was well worth all the anguish it took to get him into the world. I can hardly believe that the years have passed so quickly, and what seemed at the time like slow-motion child-rearing has turned to years passing so swiftly now that I can scarce keep up with them.
Daniel turned 19 today! 2005 has been quite a year for him, graduating and all. I know my good friend Cindy in South Carolina can remember the long hours we put in in the labor room trying to get this child to come on out and see the world. Cindy stood in for my mother who was in Tennessee waiting all day for news on her first grandchild. Daniel waited until almost the last possible hours of December 5th to make his arrival. And they had to cut him out at that! But once he got into this world, he has never stopped going and going and going......just like the bunny on the commercial.
Daniel has always been a challenge and a blessing wrapped in one giant package! He has always made me proud by his accomplishments and his behavior throughout his life. He is stubborn, intense, and headstrong, but he is also compassionate, loving, caring, and gentle. He has filled many shoes, even before he was old enough to step into some of them. He has always been a protector, of me, and of his siblings. He is as crazy about his half-sisters as he is his full brothers. In his mind, there is no "half" to it. He has two sisters and two brothers.
His entire life, I have been approached by people who started the conversation with..."let me tell you what Daniel did." 99% of the time, it was something good. Usually, it was humorous and embarassing as well, but most often, it was concerning some good or compassionate thing he had done. I used to cringe when Bible class teachers met me in the aisle with a smile, because I knew that they were going to have another Daniel story for me. There were some doozies.
Daniel is much like the apostle Peter, apparently, from everything we can read of Peter. Sometimes Peter opened his mouth when he shouldn't have, and he tried to walk on water, etc. Daniel is not afraid of jumping out there on the stormy sea either. Recently, he took his old hand-me-down beater car up to Kentucky to see some friends. I told him that he was taking his life into his own hands to get up there in that old car. He just had to go. He made it back, finally, but when he was within 30 miles of the house, the brakes were failing, and it was raining heavily, and thankfully, he had the sense enough to pull over and quit and let us get him the rest of the way home.
He comes by his impetuousness honestly. Everyone says that he is just like his mother. We do think quite a bit alike on things, except for the fact that he is a man and I am a woman. That brings a certain degree of difference to the table. I have always been able to talk about anything with him, and he has had incredible communication skills all of his life. I don't think his peers have always understood him, because he was on a different wave-length from most of them. Sometimes that makes for some loneliness, because your peers are interested in things you passed by 3 or 4 years ago.
I still wonder what Daniel will ultimately decide to do with his life. That's another way in which he is like me. He has not fully decided what career path to take. It took me a few years longer than most to decide what I wanted out of life. Daniel has a lot of talents. His singing voice just developed from an o.k. voice to a magnificent one last year. I love it when he leads singing at church. He loves to listen to people's problems and try to help them sort things out, so I sort of suspect that he may go in that direction for a career. I have told him that with his cooking talents, he could go into the culinary arts, but he does not seem to have any desire to work in a kitchen all of his life. He has expressed a desire to preach.
I suspect that by this time next year, Lord-willing, he will have made some of the first decisions about which road he will take. It surely will be hard to watch him go. His siblings are all going to be to bury (and his mom will probably cry some buckets, too.) I guess it is always hardest to lose the first one from the nest. I have no doubts that he will find his way, as he always has, pretty independently and head-strong. Like other moms, I pray that God has been preparing some fine young lady for him and will bring them together when the time is right.
Whatever happens in the coming days, I'll cherish the memories of raising this exceptional boy, and I will look forward to watching him exceed the expectations of many who are unaware of the dynamo within his one-of-a-kind spirit. My gentle giant is now about 5 feet taller and 234 lbs. heavier than he was on this day 19 years ago, but he still can touch my heart just as effectively as he did the first time I laid eyes on him way back then.
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