{"id":379683,"date":"2012-05-11T20:42:00","date_gmt":"2012-05-11T20:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/2012\/05\/11\/a-bittersweet-birthday\/"},"modified":"2012-05-11T20:42:00","modified_gmt":"2012-05-11T20:42:00","slug":"a-bittersweet-birthday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/2012\/05\/11\/a-bittersweet-birthday\/","title":{"rendered":"A Bittersweet Birthday"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/a><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Last month I received a Save the Date<\/em> notice from a friend whose son was born exactly one week before Gavin.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/span>I couldn\u2019t help but smile at how rugged and manly this young man has become. How handsome he was standing next to his glowing bride-to-be.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/span>And then, a fleeting sadness passed over me.<\/span>
<\/span><\/p>\n

Ha\u2026 Each thought of Gavin\u2019s birthday\u2014today\u2014has brought a smile to my face, but as I typed that last line, another passing sadness washed over me\u2026<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I will never see those bulging biceps, that look of starry-eyed love, nor that budding maturity in my eldest son.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Oh, I am confident of what he looks like, but I will never actually see him in the flesh, never be able to stand on my tiptoes to kiss his hairy cheek and wrap my arms around his neck.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Okay, that sentence has brought tears to my eyes and a lump to my throat.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I miss him. I will always miss him.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

But I will never stop loving him.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And now, I smile, again, for I will also never feel the slight sting of rejection, \u201cMom, you\u2019re annoying me,\u201d if I were to tousle his mop of hair after hugging him.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Bittersweet…it\u2019s a bittersweet sort of a day\u2026<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Twenty-two years ago on Friday, May 11, the air was cold and damp and wet, chilling-to-the-bone.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

But today, the sun couldn\u2019t be sitting any brighter in the sky, the trees are in early bloom, and the lawns have already been mowed several times.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Round-bellied robins have been flitting across my lawn all morning, and earlier a baby hummingbird came to the freshly-filled feeder outside of my office window.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Tonight, one of my children has a school event, and the other is working at her new job.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019ll be too late to go to dinner and the cemetery as we usually do, so we\u2019ve decided on a late night trip to the local ice cream parlor.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I sent my college kid a note with money to go do something fun, to celebrate his successful year in college and his brother\u2019s birthday.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

After our dessert, my husband and I will likely sit in the hot tub.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Last night we saw several shooting stars\u2026<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And now this piece comes full circle\u2026<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

You see, I had planned on just a quick blurb, and to share the link to the post I made around Gavin\u2019s twentieth birthday.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I have always been fond of this piece, and I love the images and feelings the title, <\/span><\/span><\/span>At the Helm of a Shooting Star<\/span><\/a>, conjures.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I will never look at shooting stars the same\u2026<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Happy birthday, Gavin! Have a safe and happy ride!<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Soon\u2026<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last month I received a Save the Date notice from a friend whose son was born exactly one week before Gavin. I couldn\u2019t help but smile at how rugged and manly this young man has become. How handsome he was standing next to his glowing bride-to-be. And then, a fleeting sadness passed over me. Ha\u2026 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4365,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[203,248,87,61,113,14,19,54,255,91,163,69],"class_list":["post-379683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-birthday","tag-child","tag-child-loss","tag-death","tag-family","tag-healing","tag-inspiration","tag-loss-and-healing","tag-save-the-date","tag-shooting-star","tag-teenager","tag-the-five-facets"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Birthday.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}