Liam is 17!

It started innocently enough, on November 8, 1999. A momentous day then, as it is today. There was suddenly 7 pound, 2 oz. newborn in a monkey onesie, where there never was such a thing before. 

Before long, he was sitting up and smiling, dialing the Fisher-Price phone, calling up his Grampa Dale with fingers and face.

He'd zoom up and down the extra-wide sidewalk on his trike.

Somewhere in there, he got to give honey to a gentle tamadua. 

He'd go eye to eye with a yellow-throated warbler

and spend long hours on the deck and living room floor, configuring the perfect train track

When trains were all he could think about.

He grew, and so did the bonsai trees he's known all his life. November 8, 2005. He's six. Wish puppy Chet had been in the pic!

November 8, 2016. He's 17. Same trees! Chet: almost 12. 

There was a slightly awkward phase, to be sure...we all have them, before we figure out what to do with ourselves, our hair...wait WHATARETHOSE????

and for figuring such things  out, we look to our big sister, who has always had all the answers. Little did we know then that the ocean would someday call her far, far away.

There would be some T-ball games to endure (those periods in between chili dogs and at-bats). 

But not too many. If it isn't fun, maybe you should be drawing instead.

There would be Harry Potter books to fall into 

and funny faces to make

and your mama's sore neck to rub, whether you wanted to or not. Oh, stop sniveling.

All the while, you'd draw and draw and draw. 

 There would be throwing lessons from Dead-eye Daddy (ongoing to this day)

first days of school, with a tissue pack in your pocket

and long jumps to make

and a sister (who sometimes smelled like peaches) to see off to dances

And of course, there would be a lot of dreaming to do.

You'd be the quintessential American kids.

You'd grow until you took your mama's breath away

just looking up and catching her eye

playing an effete, sparkly vampire 

Or, just as often, from laughing until she choked.

How lucky can you get, to have miraculously produced a pair of comely creatures who tower over you, are working their hardest to outshine you in every way

Liam's latest drawings.

Give him a follow on Instagram, lht_artwork!

and who love each other so fully and sweetly. 

What a delight it is to watch you blossom and excel. 

Happy 17, William Henry Thompson IV! You ROCK. So hard.