Happy 18th, J!!!

The "baby" of the family is 18 today! WOW! I wonder what he and his crazy friends have planned for tonight. Yeah, tonight Wednesday. That kid never misses an opportunity to party! And he deserves it. He studies hard (well as hard a spoiled rotten teenager does) and works even harder. He has a great head on his shoulders and luckily doesn't get into any trouble....he knows I would take him to jail for even the most minor thing! Lucky for him I won't be on police duty tonight and hopefully he won't have to start dropping names and get me called into the captain's office! ;-)

I remember the night he was born...it seems just like yesterday! The next day I had a 35 page term paper due in American History. I was in the 11th grade...wow it sure has been a long time. In the weeks prior to the paper being due, the teacher repeatedly stated that under no circumstances would late papers be accepted. But the night before it was due, my whole family was at the hospital with Mom, welcoming the latest addition to our family into the world! I didn't have time to finish the paper....yes I waited until the last second to wrap it up...I just had a few pages and the bibliography left to complete....Shoot me! At class the next day we had to go up one at a time to turn in our paper...when my name was called I told her I didn't have it finished. It was if the Earth had came to a screeching halt! I was told to see her after class. I was in BIG TROUBLE! She started off by telling me I received a zero and the paper was worth 35% of the class grade. That meant that my A- was automatically an "E"...failure. I was terrified as in the US the 11th grade grades are the most important set of grades universities look at when they decide whether to accept an applicant. I saw my future quickly evaporate. After I explained to her what had happened and showed her the 33 pages I had completed, she was ok with me turning in the remainder the next day. I lucked out big time!

So J-lo(as I like to call him), as you turn 18, I don't want to give you any wise advice...you'd probably give me that glaring stare or probably just ignore me anyways. I think though some of my words get through to you...or at least I hope so! Of course we have our discussions as I like to call them, we sometimes cheer for opposing sport teams, sometimes I kick your @$$ at H-O-R-S-E and sometimes we get upset with one another and play that silly silent treatment game for a few days, but deep down we both know that we can pick up the phone at any time and know that someone who genuinely cares will pick up the other end. I know that no matter what and wherever we are, we will always be there for one another. And I know that although many years separate us, we are great friends and will always be. Happy Birthday Bro!