the growth of a son.....

When I was 21, my wife and I had a son. A lovely boy; Sean Patrick, named after listening to A Beautiful Boy by J. Lennon. 

Since he didn't like to sleep traditionally, he would fall asleep while eating his food, he didn't want to miss anything. He was an inquisitive lad. 

Sometimes I would strap him into his car seat at 10:00 at night and drive the North/South Freeway (Rt. 42) to put him to sleep. Once asleep in the house, I would verbally threaten the firetrucks should they go by with their sirens blaring. 

I nicknamed him Buckaroo Banzai for it was a wild and adventurous name. His siblings and cousins nicknamed him Seany and today I tend to call him Seaner. 

Sean was a literal fellow. He took everything as black and white, there were no grey areas. 

I would read to him at night, and for me, my favorite was Go, Dog, Go I loved the part where the dog on the Ferris wheel yell; "go around again!". 
It was as if we wanted that moment to never end and to go around again and again and again. 



Those moments did end. We both grew up. I as a father, and Sean into a young man. We did it together. Learning as we went. 

Today Sean is 30 and I am over 50. 

This Friday, January 2nd, Sean will marry Jessica. I love the way he makes her laugh. I love the way he cares for her, protects her. I see it in his actions, I hear it in his voice. 

The ride in the car seat didn't always work and more often then not he would end up sleeping on the floor next to our bed. Sometimes firetrucks did go by and wake him up and sometimes he finished his meal without falling asleep and as much as I wanted us to "go around again" back then, in a strange way we are, it's a big Ferris wheel and all it does is go around and around, and I, for one, love the ride. 

((tonight we catch one of his favorite bands - mewithouYou with his brothers Taylor and Johnny it is part of his bachelor party celebration - - can't wait, it's a great ride))