Mom's Inside Story: Happy Birthday Anthony!

11 years ago today, after a grueling 72 hours of labor Brad and I welcomed Anthony into our life. We were surrounded by family and friends and his life has remained as such and hopefully always will.

Brad and I met in college, a human sexuality class actually. I was 19 and he was 20. Anthony was not planned but absolutely wanted. Brad and I had only been dating a short while when we found out we were expecting. The scared teenage girl in me was so afraid Brad would run when I told him we were going to have a baby. He came to my apartment that night and I handed him the book: What to Expect When You're Expecting. He looked at it, flipped thru the pages for a second and asked: "Is this what we're doing our final project?"
Me: "Well, not exactly (cue tears), I'm pregnant."
In my mind, he jumped over the back of the sofa, bolted out the door and floored his truck as fast as he could! In reality, he held me while I sobbed until I was quiet enough for him to talk, and then said: “Jen, I already know I love you, and I know I will love this baby, let's make this work."

He moved in the next day and we've been together ever since. It hasn't always been easy and we've had our difficulties, but 11 years, 2 more kids, 4 houses, 6 jobs and countless hours of life changing moments, we're still here, still making it work. But, this is Anthony's story, not ours.

Anthony was an only child for 7 years. He was raised by a village of grandparents, mostly my Papa and my Mom and Step-Dad. On the day he was born, our family took up almost the entire waiting room! We didn't know if I was carrying a boy or a girl nor did we tell everyone our name choices. After I delivered, and the baby was all cleaned up, everyone piled into our little room. My youngest brother Marc got to tell everyone that we had a boy and Brad and I announced his name, Anthony Joseph. My Papa, his namesake, took a few moments to process that we named the baby after him, then, once he realized it, he fell to his knees.

In so many ways, Anthony is still an only child being that there is such a gap between him and his sisters. Yet, knowing who he was even before they were born, it was absolutely right for him to be the much older, bigger brother. He needed that 7 years of focused time with us and he needed the wisdom and maturity of the 7 years to handle the chaos that is two younger sisters. He is a great big brother and loves his sisters in an immeasurable way. They fight, they yell and then cuddle up together on the couch watching kids shows. He shares his popcorn, teaches them how to play games and makes them breakfast every morning.

Anthony has the most genuine heart of anyone I’ve ever known. He is always looking out for those around him and will give anything he has to help someone. He loves Legos and has an engineering mind. He can re-create almost anything via drawing or Legos. He has an artistic talent that continues to grow and amaze us. He just recently has taken up origami, the trumpet and rocket building with his B-pa. He excels at math and spends hours on end lost in his own imagination. He has worn a path into our back yard from where he walks one side to the other thinking, talking to himself and acting out his imaginary plans.

You know that question about having a super hero power? If you could have one super hero power what would it be? I would love to say invisibility but because of Anthony, I would ask for the ability to read minds. I would give anything to see the world the way he does, to be able to view his imagination at work. He gives us glimps of it in his art work, but I know it pails in comparison to what he actually creates in his mind.

He’s impulsive, scatter brained, messy, and often suffers from tunnel vision but I wouldn’t trade any of those characteristics for anything else because they are part of the beautiful young man he is. He is the sum of so many parts and always creating or adding new facets to his personality. I love the stage of life he’s in now but can’t wait to see the man he will become.

Happy Birthday my Anthony, I love you!

Spring 2011