Friday, May 6, 2016

24

24 Reasons I'm Proud of My Son

With Mother's Day this Sunday, I thought I'd jot down a few thoughts about how proud I am to be a mom. I really have a gazillion reasons, but am only listing 24 since that's the number of years I've had the privilege of being this extraordinary person's mom!

  1. He's kind.
  2. He's considerate. 
  3. He's compassionate.
  4. He graduated both high school and college with high honors...all while being on the basketball
      team and working part-time.
  5. He's not living at home. (Not that we don't love having him with us...but we're proud he's making
      his own way in the world.)
  6. He likes hanging out with us. (He visits us or meets us for dinner about once a week.)
  7. He's thoughtful. (After the shooting in Kalamazoo, he sent us a text at 1 a.m. just to let us know he
      was home safe and sound. He texts and calls to check in with us while he's on vacation.)
  8. He's polite.
  9. He's appreciative. (He thanks us profusely for any meal we buy or make when he visits.)
10. He has a sense of humor. (Mostly, it's Matt's dry sense of humor, but he still makes me laugh.)
11. He's open to trying new things. (Electric Forest, for example. It's a multiple-day outdoor music
     event...without showers. Yuck.)
12. He's respectful.
13. He values our liberal opinions...and agrees with them.
14. He's not passive. (He thought he should be paid more at work, so he found a new employer that
     agreed.)
15. He's smart.
16. He manages his own life...himself. (He pays his own bills. He makes his own appointments. He
     does his own cooking, cleaning, and laundry.)
17. He purchased his own car...himself.
18. He has goals in life...and a drive to achieve them. (He wants to own a home in a
      few years...and get a dog or two. I'm looking forward to giving decorating advice.)
19. He lives by a budget. (He has a spreadsheet for his life plan...and he made one for his girlfriend.)
20. He makes good choices.
21. He treats women with respect. (He treats them like the goddesses they are.)
22. He doesn't have a false sense of entitlement. (He works for what he wants.)
23. He can sleep anywhere. (He was sleeping eleven hours straight when he was only six weeks old.
      He would fall asleep in the car after fifteen minutes...and he still does to this day.)
24. He's beautiful...inside and out. (He has a kind, caring, and compassionate soul. He also has
      gorgeous hazel eyes and beautiful hair with loose curls. I may be the only mom in the world who
      used to beg her son to grow his hair out.)


Honestly, raising Keaton was a breeze. He was the easiest baby, toddler, and teenager in the world!  He never cried. (Well, maybe only ten times.) Seriously. He never even cried when he was born. He covered his eyes and went back to sleep. Then he pretty much slept for the next six months. He used to sleep so much that I talked to his pediatrician about narcolepsy or some other sleep disorder every month at his check-up. His pediatrician used to just laugh at me and tell me how lucky I was. Yes I was...and still am!

Just born:  I don't think he liked having his nap interrupted.

Twelve hours later...and he was still sleeping.
Nobody could wake him up for his hospital
birth photo.  Not us.  Not the nurses.
Not the photographer.