Today is the day I release my son to his new bride. It is going to be such a special day. Two families will come together to celebrate two lives becoming one.
It really didn’t feel like anything different until we made the wedding video.
That meant going back into photo albums stored away for a long, long time. With photos come memories.
Memories of the day Adam was born. The entire neighborhood along Renee Drive in Bismarck watched and waved as we drove away to the hospital that evening in June.
We didn’t have a name picked out. We thought it would be convenient to have another daughter. That way we didn’t need new baby clothes. What’s the saying about God laughing at our plans? He obviously had something else in mind for us. This little tow-headed son who came out of the womb and headed straight for his first set of wheels.
Yep, I have never believed and will never believe in the “equality” of boys and girls. They are intrinsically different at birth. (Okay, so there are exceptions to every rule.) But Claire was a caregiver and Adam was born to ride.
People used to stop and watch him skateboard down the sidewalks along our street. He was maybe three years old when one of his uncles bought him a skateboard. He migrated to bikes and golf, but he never gave up the skateboard. He still skates today, and no doubt his sons will be boarders also.
My dad found a small set of golf clubs. He was really good at golf. He was also a busy little boy around the house.
When the two of us were alone in my studio, he kept busy in his own way. One day it got really quiet and so I said, “Adam, what ya doing?”
“I’m sinking,” he said in his little boy, not quite able to pronounce ”thinking” yet sort of way.
“Oh really,” I said, “What ya “sinking” about?”
“I’m sinking how to get that saw off the wall,” he replied.
“I don’t think so” I thought to myself, and headed towards the workbench. He managed to get his hands on a scissors one day and began to cut the warp off my loom. If any of you know how to weave or have seen my looms, that’s a lot of work he was undoing.
I’m sure he’ll never forget my reaction to that moment in time. And, neither will I.
Adam like to travel with me to art shows, unlike his sister who would have rather stayed at home where she could shower on a regular basis.
Adam was an awesome traveler. I recall driving to Cleveland, Ohio, for a three-day art show. We got there after McDonalds had closed for the night. We stood in line for 20 minutes at the drive through only to find out we couldn’t be served. I was too tired to deal with it and that kid went to bed hungry that night like a trooper.
We made the drive home from that show in one day, all the while he played as long as we stopped for subs occasionally. What a blessing he was.
My favorite trip was out to Sun Valley, Idaho. We stopped at Pompey’s Pillar and read a book about Lewis and Clark as we followed the trail. We camped in the Sawtooth Mountains the day before they closed the park for the salmon spawn on the Salmon River.
The moon was full and it was the most awesome experience. No television, so we when arrived in Jackson Hole, WY, for the next show he was ready to check into a hotel. But, he never complained.
He was the best traveling companion I could have asked for.
Oh, he had his moments. Someone at my church told me not to allow him to dress the way the skaters did back then. “He’ll grow up to be a hoodlum,” they would say.
However, during the course of one sermon when I was having a particular bad day as a single parent, someone handed me a note.
That note read, “Raising children is like playing football. The score at halftime means nothing in the end.”
Well, my son. There are more stories to tell and memories to hold, but today I just wanted to say I’m so very proud of how you turned into a man. A nice man, responsible and dedicated, following a plan with goals and how you chose such a wonderful woman to be your wife – to travel through life together and hopefully have a houseful of children. You know I cannot wait to be able to hold another “little Adam” and spoil him rotten.
May God’s blessings be on you and Kelsey today as you begin your life together; and, hey, don’t forget to come and visit your old mom once in awhile, ‘cause I still love you and always will.
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