Our First Born

Today is a good day. I have always been a TGIF gal. Although when you farm, Friday is generally just another day, its not like we have weekends off. But in the last year or so, some Fridays are particularly special. Our oldest son attends a college about 4 hours from home. This year he's an RA in the dorms, so we haven't seen much of him. Guess what? Today he's coming home. Actually as I begin to write this, he's likely 3/4 of the way home. (I will likely not post until I get home and can add a few pictures.)
Cody taught us how to be parents. He's the guinea pig. Aren't all first borns? We tried our hand at parenting, read all the books, tried to follow the rules, and then realized that the rules were a guide, find what works in your family and embrace it.
We were very lucky that he was such an easy baby, probably a lot of the reason why he has so many siblings. LOL
His curiosity and imagination are two of the first traits that I found most fascinating. He was always a busy guy. Sometimes that was fun, sometimes that was frustrating.
Growing up, he's accepted the job of 'leader' that oldest kids seem to automatically be nominated for. He's pretty organized with his time and resources. He's great at finding a solution, actually loves the process of finding that solution, as he seems to never be able to learn enough.
I can remember a conversation had with him probably less than a week after school was out for the summer, when he was maybe 9. Cody: "Mom, we are going to NEED to go to the Library TODAY?" Me: "Why?" Cody: "I have read everything in this house. We need to go NOW."
At a parent teacher conference, with his teacher, I mentioned that I am amazed and the amount of papers that they get done during class. And she just laughed and assured me, no they didn't always ALL do that many papers daily, she gave Cody extra papers, to keep him busy and would soon have to find more as he was moving ahead of the group, by leaps and bounds.
I have always been proud of his academic achievements. But, who he is as a person, far outweighs the 'book learning' His love of people shows through in his friendliness, his natural ability to relate to others and the beginnings I have been witness to of what he ultimately wants to do in life...............be a teacher.
He has enjoyed helping with the younger kids at church. He's the oldest kid, grandkid, etc.........so he's ended up being in charge of the group unofficially for years. That was soon followed by other endeavors, like 4H camp, for one example. He enjoyed attending as a camper, but REALLY loved his years as a counselor. Now he enjoys his RA job, which just seems to be the next step in his journey.
Re-writing this post as the original only saved a partial yesterday, so now that its the first day of deer season, I am reminded of another deer season 17 yrs ago. My mom and I went shopping and let the guys do their things. Well we went to a favorite store of ours about 1 hour away. While shopping there, Cody lost his 'bobby' which was a blanket that he loved dearly. I had gotten back to mom's before I realized it. So even though it was getting late in the afternoon and remember its opening day of deer season.............but YES I drove back to the store which was north into the heart of 'deer country' and got his beloved 'bobby' I earned my Mom of the Week Star that day for sure!
You all know me, no post is complete without a picture, so here goes:

....and Momma loves you too, Sweets! 

Thankful for 20 yrs with this guy,
From Tulip~
KH
:)