17th Birthday

All In The Family... Another Trip Down Memory Lane...

Though it seems impossible, Isaac turned 17 years old yesterday. He was born on a Tuesday in West Berlin, West Germany (as it was in 1989) in the U.S. Army Hospital, and he has a German birth certificate as well as an American one. (He does not have dual citizenship, though. I don't think that is offered anymore by the Germans.)

I won't bore my readers with the obstetrical details of his birth except to say that his safe arrival was a blessing. He was a beautiful, healthy, hungry baby. At eight months he crawled over to the sofa and stood up, and he was walking by nine months.

I have never seen a child as eager to learn to read as Isaac was. Everyone else in the family could read, and he wanted the independence of being able to read for himself too! He is an avid reader to this day, and he has a vast vocabulary and an internal encyclopedia of random knowledge because of it.

Isaac has grown up with older parents than most of the kids he knows. I was 38 when he was born and Dennis was 39. He'll be a senior this year -- and we'll be seniors, too. (I'll be turning 55 this fall.) This has probably warped him, but only in good ways, of course.

Isaac likes history, follows current events and is looking forward to becoming a voter. He's going to be a good citizen. And I could go on and on about his virtues but I guess I'll stop here and just say that I'm glad he's my son and I'm very proud of him.