Sixteen candles~

Sixteen years ago today, Bill nearly popped the buttons off his shirt when he got a first glance at his first grandchild, Kyle, who weighed in at almost 11 pounds - a mini version of himself. Yesterday we celebrated Kyle's birthday.

I was Kyle's first teacher; we babysat him frequently his first four years. My favorite baby memory of him: Bill worked nights and was sleeping days. He took Kyle to bed with him, placed him on top of his belly and patted him to sleep, then he laid Kyle down beside him. An hour later I went in to check on them, and Kyle had crawled back up on top of Grandpa's belly; both were sleeping soundly.

Childhood memories abound, one very annoying. When he was 4 and Ashley was 7, we drove them to Disney World. All the way to Florida, Kyle sang this song: "Rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling in my long-long-long-long-long-long-long-long-long truck, down the highway" (tune: rolling on the river). Now here he is driving his own pick up truck. Time has zoomed by as fast as the white lines down the center of the highway.

I made some observations at the party. Six lanky 16 year old teenaged boys; six, sixteen year old bikini-clad girls in one large private pool. It's a shame that the male body develops before the mind. The minute those boys hit the water, they regressed to ten year olds. The girls huddled at the shallow end of the pool and shook their heads. The boys dared one another to belly flop to see who could get the reddest belly. They wrestled, rode piggy back, and dunked one another. They smeared one another's faces with birthday cake and they double fisted thick burgers. Boys will be boys... I saw them in action.

Watching Kyle become the decent, young man that he is today, reinforces the notion that a little part of us lives on in him. He still looks like Gramps and has a tender side. He sat down with me and read his birthday card and said, "Your cards mean the most to me, because you always write me a personal message."

Proof positive that words are powerful, they can boost or bust self-esteem. Jot down a positive thought or memory today and pass it on to someone who means the world to you!