Mark

Mark grouses about helping me decorate the Christmas tree because he is color blind and red and green are the hardest colors for him to see.

And almost all our ornaments are red.

I told him to deal with it.  "Just put the ornaments on, it's not like you are going to miss and put them elsewhere."

So he kept attaching ornaments to the blinds.

Mark is a delightful mix of curmudgeon and sweetness.  He randomly hugs and kisses me and refuses to try anything new and stubbornly digs in his heels about things.

Today is his birthday and I love that kid.

He keeps things interesting and is a stable presence in a household that is sometimes tumbling about.

It's been quite a year for him/us.  He has shown grit and humility and patience and acceptance.

It's always a pleasure to be with Mark.  He is good at fixing things and making me laugh.  Saturday, he took down some vocabulary cards for me in my classroom and then texted me this.

He also created his own profile picture on my phone.  It is him completely drugged up after getting his wisdom teeth out.  It hurts my heart a little whenever I see it but I don't know how to change it/clearly don't care that much or I would so something.

That's kind of life with Mark. 17 years of me trying to roll with it.

He loves playing Magic the Gathering with his friends (and doesn't even mind when we tease him about it--which we do a lot).  He loves jazz music and 80s music and singing Les Mis music at the top of his lungs.  He is a whiz at creating playlists.  He loves to crawl in bed between us at my bedtime (I have the earliest bedtime) and say that he is going to sleep there all night.  He is a snuggler.

He is self sufficient and just gets on with it and manages his diabetes.

He's good at math in his head which is kind of a key for diabetic management.

He loves cars and can name any car you see on the road.  (Adam is on a business trip and Mark and I are going to see Ford vs. Ferrari tonight--and get burgers at Red Robin.)

Sunday night we decorated my grandma's house for Christmas.  It is usually Emma's job to set up the olive wood nativity set Grandma got in Israel.  Mark stepped in and as I was decorating the tree nearby, I was relishing the sounds of my 92 year old grandma and Mark sharing ideas about placement.  I thought about how much I love both of them and how I was going to remember that moment forever.

I'm grateful to be Mark's mother.  Just like my other two children, he's stretched me to capacity sometimes and he's filled my heart with joy and love.

I'm glad he's mine.

Happy birthday to the best Christmas gift I ever got.