Milestone

On December 19th, my baby boy turned eight and I suddenly felt old. I remember turning eight; it doesn’t seem that long ago. Grandma and Grandpa gave me my first glass doll, I got a very grown-up necklace with my birthstone from Nola and I had short hair like Whitney. My dad made a slide show of my life up to then set to my favorite primary songs (he was the true pioneer of video montage, 1989) and it was the first time I remember having a day all about me. It was a great day. I hope Porter’s big number eight was just as great so he’ll remember it when his first born gets there and he starts to feel a little old.

Porter made the choice to be baptized by his daddy on his birthday. Thank you to all our family and friends for coming, even Porter’s school teacher was there. In a quiet moment I asked Porter to look around at all the people that loved him and to think about the ones who were wishing they could be there and his brown eyes opened wide and he whispered, “Oh. Wow.”. I sat and thought during the opening song how today was only one of the many times in Porter’s life that people who loved him would gather to celebrate his accomplishments and share in his joy. This made me remember all the times that most of these same people have gathered together to celebrate my accomplishments; my baptism, concerts, graduations, marriage, baby blessings and now my son’s baptism. My heart swelled with love and gratitude for my family and to my Father in Heaven for blessing me with them. Any anxieties about the day faded away. I knew that even if Porter doesn’t remember this day in detail, I would. And I will need this memory because when Porter is in the water with his first born child, my grandchild, on his baptism day I’m probably going to be feeling a little old.