Buddy Boy

At the end of July, my baby boy (Joel) turned 19 years old! This is his last year of being a teen; I know it will go more quickly than the last 19 years each have.

We celebrated his birthday very simply; we each gave him something to help him on his way as both a college student at Georgia Tech and a roommate to three other students. When Brian came home from work, we surprised Joel (and Aliya!) at work by bringing cupcakes and singing happy birthday in the restaurant - quietly, of course! :) Joel took the remaining goodies to the kitchen to share with his co-workers.

I spent one week thereafter remembering Joel as a baby, a little boy, and now a teenager who is quickly growing up into a thoughtful young man. All while remembering things about Joel, I realized he was going to be living downtown to be closer to school and to avoid the snarl of ridiculous traffic that Atlantans everywhere have come to dread. (Abby has great pics on her blog - check them out!) Joel being here even less; that is a sad, strange, empty feeling. The endearing part is how Joel has continued to hang around home even though he has been paying for an apartment he has yet to move into - until this past week, that is. I have not complained once about his delay; neither has he or any of the rest of us! But now his things are there and he shall stay downtown during the week.





He has led himself well and gotten all his finances in order, his schedule in order, and his new home in order. He starts school at Georgia Tech in three days to finish a degree in electrical engineering. Lord willing, he will finish in about five semesters and consider graduate school somewhere else. It took a long time to pick his life's vocation; let's see how it all goes! He can't wait to start school again, and we can't wait to see him thrive and work hard and learn new things and meet new friends.

That having been said, I will miss his fuzzy face around here - and I do mean fuzzy. I think he is handsome as ever. I will miss his happy voice, his clever, sometimes ornery sense of humor, & the way he banters with the girls and engages with them. I will miss the mess he leaves on his bedroom floor & doing his greasy work laundry (theoretically). I will miss pouncing on him in the morning with stolen kisses on his sweet, sleepy head. I will miss hearing about all the complex physics problems (blow-by-blow) and not understanding an iota of it. I will miss the late-night talks about God and life and matters of faith and Scripture. I will miss sharing struggles and prayers together and long drives in his car with the windows down. I will hearing his bass rumbling upstairs, and his whistling and humming. I will miss seeing his beautiful smile every morning before he heads off to school. The great thing is, I will only have to miss these things for five days... Thank God for the weekend!

So Joel, my friend, I love you and think you are the best son God could ever have given me! I am grateful every day for the gift of you, and cannot wait to see how God shapes you into the man He has planned for you to be. You continually provoke me with your faith, your perseverance, your convictions, and the boyishness which wants to hang on for dear life! :) I love you, my son, my only one.