happy birthday josh!

so twenty six years ago today that little blue baby was born.
TWENTY SIX years ago.

man.

so i walked and i thought of him.(my josh)

and i thought about life and about parenting.
i thought about teaching my kids stuff.

and i thought of home schooling........

i knew when we started that i was never gonna be able to
teach them all the stuff they needed to know.
i didn't know all that stuff.
in fact, i knew very little of that stuff.

so i knew i had to teach them how to learn.
teach them how to ask questions, listen, find answers.
and i learned right next to them.

and i thought about how life is really just like home schooling.
and i grinned.
we always said the philosophy of home schooling was using life as a classroom.

well, i don't think i realized just exactly how far that goes.

cause it's just the same with living and learning the important life things.
you can't teach people that stuff - even if you know it.
it really seems we all have to learn for ourselves.
but we can teach methods of learning -
ways to listen for answers, ways to trust the process.

and just like with homeschooling - i've learned right along with these guys.

i had no idea what it meant to become a parent.
no idea.
when josh entered my life, everything changed.

we've spent 26 years teaching each other, growing together, and
learning what it is to be human.

i couldn't have had a better teacher, son, goof-mate.
and i couldn't be more proud of the young man he's become.

when i celebrate him today........i'll be celebrating who he is, what he adds to
the world, and how he's such a part of my very core.

happy birthday, josh!....one of the most amazing young men i've ever known!