HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY, Will

This little snapshot has been on my desk for, well, almost twenty years. You were born in a hospital near Chicago. Because of somebody's incorrect assumptions, it was five weeks later than we thought, but you had your own ideas, and I had a five week vacation in Chicago in the dead of winter with your Mom and Dad. We did everything we could think of to encourage you to make an earlier appearance...spicy meals, special pedicures, trudging around the mall because it was too cold to walk outside, even the self appointed prayer circle started calling and asking if you could hurry because they had other people they needed to pray for...all to no avail. You came when you were ready to come.

I think it would be safe to say that you have done things the way you wanted ever since, and it's worked out very well. Ever since your mom asked you what you did in pre school and you said, 'No talk’,'  you have kept things close to your chest. You have never been one to waste words. But you have always had a plan and stuck to it. 

It's hard for me to believe that all of a sudden you are 21. You have come a long way since you sat on the couch listening to Pop read to you, and are we proud of you?

Yup.