Sixteen Candles

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! today to my second child, Zack.
Z~ was born the first year my husband started teaching. We had no money. Our maternity insurance kicked in at midnight on April 30 and my water broke at 1a.m. I was happy and relieved to deliver that bundle of joy because he weighed a whopping 10 lb. 5 oz.

Z~ is the kind of kid who is easy to be around. Smarter than most people I know. A peacemaker. A wicked fun sense of humor. Easy going. A social animal. Talented. Sweet.

Just before July 4 of the year he was going into 8th grade he decided it would be cool to play the sax. So he taught himself. By the time the school year started he was good enough to make the jazz band at Dixon. He has since learned to play the clarinet because he knew the band leader needed another clarinet and he just finished out the season at Utah Valley Youth Symphony on the clarinet. He will play the tenor sax in PHS’s jazz band next year. He just tried out for the drum line with the marching band and is also learning to play the guitar.

If you like to play Cranium just make sure Z~ and I are not on the same team unless we are on your team. I think our minds twist the same way and we know what the other is thinking without more than a word or two.

Z~ loves animals and has a bearded dragon named Buddy. Yesterday in Zoology he found a partially digested frog in the snake he was dissecting and those kind of things make Z~ happy. Oh, that and hurling his body down Provo Canyon on a long board. Half of me wants to discourage such behavior. The other half of me wants to say, “Fly, be free!”

My favorite photo of Z~ is on the coldest day ever in Provo–I think it was -5 or something–and he and his friend went kayaking down the Provo River. There were layers of ice on their dry suits. He had a hacking cough for weeks after. But I have never seen a bigger grin on that kid’s face. And that’s what it’s all about.

One of my favorite stories about Z~ involves this girl in our congregation whom Z~ home teaches. He was playing with the jazz band at the Fall Fling and she was there with a date and he went up to her date and told him he’d better treat her right or he would have to deal with Z~.

The other day I was ordering a sandwhich at Gandolfo’s. It was my first time there and I was telling the woman who works there it had come highly recommended by my son. She asked my son’s name and I told her and she smiled and said she knew him. She wanted me to know he is the most polite boy. And he is. He is so nice that he gets a little embarrassed when I do what he calls my “assertive thing.” Yet when needed he will call on me to do that thing I do on his behalf. Disclaimer: I am nice when I do my assertive thing; he just doesn’t like to watch. Most times he just likes to roll with the tide and not make any waves.

He is a good kid and fun to be around. (He’s also the only one in the family who will watch a chick flick with his mom, but don’t let that get around.)

Z~ is savvy to a world from which I wish I could have better protected him, but maybe being more aware will help him learn to protect himself. He loves to drive and lately we have been driving around with the windows down singing Regina Spektor. On the way to school this morning he was flipping through the songs looking for his favorite. At the intro to one I asked him if that was the one about drugs and he looked at me so matter of fact and said, “They’re all about drugs.” (He may be right, but it’s still my new favorite.) In any case, he will be getting his drivers license in just two weeks so stay off the sidewalks!

Oh and I love that he sent a reminder to himself on his cell phone that today is his birthday.

Happy Birthday Z~! I’m so glad you were born!