Happy Birthday!

Tomorrow is T's 37th birthday.

My mother-in-law has kept a journal for most of her life, so I know a bit about T as a baby. It was hot the Summer he was born and there was no air conditioning at the house on his family's farm in Southwest Nebraska. There was sand in the well water MIL used to wash T's diapers and it gave him a horrible diaper rash. So T was a cranky baby for a few months. One entry from MIL's journal reads "T was nasty today." For some reason that makes me laugh and I remind him of it when he's grumpy.

MIL and FIL have also told me that T was quite an, um, energetic child. An endearing trait that he has passed to our sons. When he was a tween, he and his younger brother decided to bring the calf they were raising for 4-H into the house. Through the living room. He still doesn't remember why, but they thought it was a really good idea at the time.

T and his brother, K, liked to play Superman in the tree in the front yard. They had the brilliant idea to put blankets on as capes and jump out of the tree, whereupon they would of course soar into the air. T didn't want to try it first. Neither did K. So T pushed K out of the tree. Apparently K still has the scar from the nasty tree gouging he received. The boys thought they'd get in trouble, so they never told their parents.

And then there was the time T backed over his brother in the truck. And the time he almost shot him. And... I could go on and on.

When T was 17, he joined the Navy and went off to boot camp. He spent some time in Florida, Chicago, and two years in Scotland. Then he came home and finished college, with degrees in history and political science, in three years. When I met him he was in graduate school working on his Masters in International Relations. Now T is a computer geek, and it suits him, but he loves to talk and argue politics.

T loves to eat pickled pigs feet (ewwww), olives, and steak. He loves Spring above all other seasons. He can't pick out a matching outfit to save his life.

T loves to take the boys for rides on his lawn mower. He wants to teach them to ride horses and how to milk a cow. He's teaching them to say "yes, sir" and "no, ma'am" and to be good men.

T loves to give hugs at least 50 times a day. He always ends his calls to his parents with "I love you." He's not afraid to tell me what he feels.

T cried after Hollis was born because he was so overwhelmed with love. He loves to watch the boys sleeping. He would do anything for me or the boys. Anything.

We are so lucky.

I am so lucky.

Happy Birthday, T.

I love you.