Wednesday, June 10, 2015

The Birthday Boy


It's a drizzly drippy day here in Lloyd and cool and green and the roosters are calling back and forth. For the fourth day in a row, I woke up with almost none of my existential angst. It's weird. You know how when people start taking anti-depressants and they say, "All it did was make me feel more like myself?"
Like that.
My dreams have been less crazy too. They still are many and varied and some are not exactly pleasant but at least when I wake up, I can make a sort of sense of them.
Am I giving credit to that little dose of mushrooms I did on Saturday?
I don't know. Placebo effect?
Whatever it is, I'm good with it. Literally. I'm not exactly ready to pack my bags and travel to India but I feel...okay.

And I'm celebrating today, in my own very quiet way because it's this guy's birthday.


Yep. Thirty-nine years ago, my first-born got born. My Hank. 
Here's what a friend of his wrote on Facebook this morning:

"Here's a little trivia for you: 
Who is the most awesome birthday boy of the day? Someone who is one of my favorite people in the whole world and has been inspiring me to do more and be better for years and years? Anyone? Anyone? Well it's Hank Saints. Duh."

I found that fitting because Hank has been inspiring me for exactly thirty-nine years. Inspiring me to do more and be better because being his mother has taught me more than probably anything else I've ever experienced or done. 
Since his birth, he's been absolutely magical. He's funnier than anyone I know. He's smarter than anyone I know. He knows more trivia than anyone I know. He should. He makes his living at it. He's wiser than anyone I know. He's braver than anyone I know. He's more creative than anyone I know. He has more friends than anyone I know. He's read more books than anyone I know. 
He owns more typewriters than anyone I know. 
He's Hank. 

I could sit here and tell you Hank stories all day long, starting from the evening of his birth when he absolutely laughed out loud when some friends came over to see us and their little girl made faces at him and tickled him.
I know. Not possible. 
Shut up. I saw it. 
And he's been laughing ever since. 
In a way, he's the core of this family. He brings us together, he binds us all somehow. 


He loves his nephews, his sisters, his mama, his Daddy Glen, his other-mother, his father. He has tattoos. He loves his cat who used to be named Humbert-Humbert but is now named Johnny Karate.


He is tender. He is stalwart, he is steadfast. 
I remember when Lily was having Owen in the hospital and Hank had no desire to be in the labor room or part of that whole process but he stayed in the waiting room the entire time, keeping watch, keeping faith as Lily worked so hard and so long to birth her first-born. 

He makes adventures happen for us all, family and friends alike.


He made the parade parties every year when he lived downtown. It was fabulous. It was famous.


He loves babies.



And babies love him. 

He lives in more cultures than I know. He is comfortable in all of them. He is beloved in all of them. 


He officiates marriages. He loves...he loves so much.

I've been looking at pictures I have and pictures from Facebook and thinking about my boy for hours now. He's in Pennsylvania, still, visiting a friend, and I miss him.
I have known him for thirty-nine years. He was my first baby. He is one of my best and oldest friends.


I would not be who I am if this child had not come to me.
I would not know what I know if he had not been born to me.
I would not begin to understand love if he were not my son.

Happy Birthday, Hank. May this year be the best of all so far, yet not as good as the ones to follow.
You are your mother's heart. Her pride and her joy.
Her beautiful, beloved red-headed boy.
I will kiss you and hug you when you come home.

Love from Lloyd...Mama


23 comments:

  1. What a great photo of little Hank in a hat! Happy Birthday to him. And I've heard many a story of people using a mushroom-like substance as a quite effective reset button.

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  2. Great Birthday post!
    Happiest Birthday to Hank!

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  3. .•°*”˜˜”*°•.¸☆ ★ ☆¸.•°*”˜˜”*°•.¸☆
    ╔╗╔╦══╦═╦═╦╗╔╗ ★ ★ ★
    ║╚╝║══║═║═║╚╝║ ☆¸.•°*”˜˜”*°•.¸☆
    ║╔╗║╔╗║╔╣╔╩╗╔╝ ★ BIRTHDAY ★
    ╚╝╚╩╝╚╩╝╚╝═╚╝ ¥☆★☆★☆¥ ★☆

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  4. Happy Birthday to Hank! I will now go reread your Sunday post. Gail

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  5. This is beautiful.
    Happy Birthday, Hank!

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  6. I second what Denise said! So much love and pride. Happy Birthday to your precious son!

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  7. These odes to your children are always so very beautiful and touching. Thank you for the glimpses you give us into your life...your heart. Sending BIG Birthday wishes to your darlin' Hank!

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  8. Happy birthday Hank! Your mama loves you and we do too!

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  9. He is so handsome and he was such a cute kid...Happy Birthday!

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  10. Wishing you many happy returns of the day, Hank!

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  11. I wish I could write so beautifully to my children on their birthdays. And, it's true isn't it, that our kids' birthdays always bring back the whole day they were born, no matter how old they get, every single year.

    Happy Birthday to your Hank, and many more.

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  12. O our first born children. They taught us how to mother, how to be patient, how to love as we've never loved before. And a beautiful tribute for your red haired darling.

    XOXOX Beth

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  13. That is beautiful. Happy birthday, dear Hank. And happy birthing day to you! GET OUT that you have an almost-forty year old.

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  14. Happy Birthday sweet Hank and dear mama Mary!

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  15. Aw! So sweet! Happy birthday to you both.
    And I'm so glad you're feeling good. x

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  16. Now THAT was an amazing tribute. My mother would never write anything like that for me. You rock, Mary Moon. And happy birthday to Hank!

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  17. Oh, mama, that was beautiful. I'm so blessed to have you - and the rest of my parents - in my life. Thank you, everybody! I have been offline and on vacation for ten days, so I am just now reading this. This is going to be a good year.

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  18. That Hank- The universe was disrupted while you were gone. I am so glad you're back. But damn- I am so happy that you got to go.

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  19. It was amazing. Want to go to lunch this week?

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  20. That Hank- Very much. I very much want to go to lunch and see you.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.