Lots of memories crowd in:
--the day he was born...I was awake for the first part of this c-section, and the doctor said, "Did you say we wanted a boy here? I'm feeling lucky! Look around, I'm wearing blue, the walls are painted blue...".
--P holding his newborn son for the first time...while I was still in the operating room and didn't get to watch it myself, the picture is priceless. I'll find it and post it.
--underwear and cowboy boots - E's favorite outfit. We called him "Cowboy Eric the Red Banana", a conglomerate of several nicknames all rolled into one.
--his first concussion...a fall all the way down the basement stairs in, you guessed it, his cowboy boots. Subsequent concussions included jumping/falling backwards out of daddy's arms (a freakish accident that would take too long to explain), jumping on the bed and bouncing off landing head-first on a carpet-covered-concrete-floor, running forehead first into a barn beam knocking himself out cold, a football incident, and at least two other times where concussions were possible but not confirmed. It's a wonder he can have a coherent thought after all that.
--flag football with his dad as the coach. P drove the other parents crazy trying to have six year olds run actual plays (kinda dragged out the game) but E and the rest of the boys learned a lot about the fundamentals (Vince Lombardi would have been proud).
--watching years of football from the bleachers. Several memorable moments: E had a "girlfriend" in the 7th grade, Rose, whom we had not met. There was a group of girls in front of us at one game carrying on, and one, who the others called "Rose", said rather loudly, "look at number (whatever it was) - he has such a cute butt!" Yes, it was her. And in E's senior year, his homecoming game, which they lost. He came off the field after the game and buried his head in my shoulder and sobbed. I believe I was crying right along with him. He was a team captain that year and won the most outstanding player award at the end of the season.
--singing together at the piano
--watching him play Perchik in Fiddler on the Roof after only two weeks of rehearsal. He didn't even try out, but took the place of a wrestler buddy who had broken a leg. We were awestruck.
--the day he stood behind me and rested his head on top of mine for the very first time. There were years where that posture was reversed...we stood that way a lot, with my head resting on his.
--my special song to him, which I sing again today, on his birthday:
If I had all the E's in the whole wide world,
and I stood them all in a real big line,
and if I could pick any E in the whole wide world
to love and have him be mine,
do you know who I'd pick?
and do you know why?
because I love my most special boy, E D...
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