Class of 2009

To be fair, I have to also introduce my favorite member of the Class of 2009 also! Meet Zac. My firstborn child. He should have been the "bender of the guardrails". A term introduced by a friend when we were in college. She and I were both benders of guardrails. You know, the child that got into so much trouble and put their parents through such intense parenting situations that when the younger ones came up through the ranks--the "guardrails" were bent out so wide from all the crashes that those said younger ones slid right through without a scratch (or any late night parental confrontations)! Zac should have been a bender. He wasn't. I'm not saying we don't have one--that IS Jake! But Zac was just too good. I think now that it was all part of the plan to make sure that my family got larger. He was a good baby, an amazing toddler, a precocious preschooler and generally has handled himself very well through every change that has come his way. He is the child that we actually (secretly) wished would just get into a little trouble. He just never really did. I won't sit here and tell you that he is a prodigy in anything and was ahead of every timeline marked for any developmental milestone, but he has been a good kid and will be a good man. He is an intelligent person who enjoys thinking and discussions. He is a musician and plays the alto sax and is a self taught bass player. He is coordinated enough and athletic enough to play soccer and perform in marching band. He is an artist who enjoys several mediums and is incredibly creative. He is not just like me and he is not just like his father. He is his own person and respects all other persons. He has adopted our philosophy of being open minded, nonjudgmental and accepting of other ideas and philosophies. He questions authority and challenges assumptions. He has his own flaws and his own anchors in this life. There are good anchors (like family and beliefs) and not so good anchors (like A.D.D. and Asperger's Syndrome). He knows his anchors and still plans on sailing. He will be a great sailor in this life! I'm proud to be the one he calls "Mom".