Happy Birthday, dear Jared...

My boy turned 15 a few days ago...not much of a boy anymore, I suppose.





I'm pleased to say that he is growing into a fine young man. He stays out of trouble, gets good grades, does his chores without much complaining, and is learning to be chilvalrous. His teachers, friends, and family all love him. Happy birthday Jare-bear! Hum, do you mind if I still call you Jare-bear, Jare-bear?



This is when he most looks like "Jare-bear". Wasn't he cute? This was when he was 8. His favorite things to do back then was to climb trees, catch crawdads, turtles, and salamanders. This was the age he was when his jr. Sunday school teacher brought me a copy of the next week's lesson and told me that it was for Jared. She explained that she had given the lesson and starting asking some questions about it, and Jared said that he didn't think it was fair that she asked them the questions when she had the answers in her book. So she asked if he wanted to study the lesson the week before and he said yes. LOL! That's my boy.

It was also the year that he went up to Steve and said, "Hey Dad, where is your Honey?"...yes, he was looking for me. And another time he went to Steve and said, "I'm not very happy with your wife right now." When he was 3 or 4 he dashed into the kids' bedroom with the peanut butter bottle and a spoon, looked quickly around and dashed under the bed and asked the other kids, "Have you seen Mom?" He was my Dennis the Menace, though he never *meant* to be naughty.

Oh! Here is a funny story! When he was about 2 we were visiting some friends who managed a motel. Their apartment was connected to the motel's check in desk by swinging doors (you know the old western swinging bar doors? Those were the ones!). Jared went through the door and paused before clearing the door's swinging range. The doors came back and hit him in the behind. He turned around, glared at the doors, and hit them! They came right back and smacked him. So he hit them harder! And they hit him again. Finally, determined to get even without suffering retribution, he hit the doors as hard as he could, turned around, and ran.

Back then he was an adorable little boy with big, squeezable cheeks and Dennis the Menace naughtiness. Today, he is a young man who opens doors for women, is kind to children, helps little old ladies across the street (figuratively speaking, though he does help his grandma with whatever she needs), and is kind to animals.

AND he shows up as #1 on Google if you search for "Pioneer Son".

I love you Jare!
♥< >< >< >< >< >♥< >< >< >< >< >♥< >< >< >< >< >♥
Hey, here is a funny thing. As I was lying in bed, I looked up at the ceiling and the lampshade was casting some funky shadows. Take a look at this!

With flash - how it normally appears:



And without flash:



Way cool! It reminds me of a color wheel. That night there were two sources of light happening. First, there was the computer moniter's light (we always watch House, Chuck, or Smallville on our computer before bed) and light from the closet. The shadows cast were from different light sources. Cool huh?!

Well, tomorrow I'm going to check in with the eye doc. I need to get my glasses prescription changed. Not because I'm seeing things like color wheels on my ceiling, but because I'm squinting a lot as I read. One of these days I'll be like the other older women whose arms simply aren't long enough to hold their books while they read them.

And on Tuesday I go in for my 6 month check-up with an EGD with the gastro doc. I'm not looking forward to it. If you remember, I have ulcers on my esophogus...and I think they're back (you can read my whole story here and here. They were completely gone for about a month, right before Christmas. But now there are moments when I feel the discomfort again. It isn't as bad as back in September, but I think I'm going to have to go on the meds, dang it. I have tried to be so good. But I'm refusing to worry until after the appt. & I have to. We'll see.

Anyway, I'll try to drop in sometime this weekend, but if not, I'll see you next week. I'll for sure let you know the results of the EGD.

Have a great weekend!