jackson's fifth birthday

today my little jackson turns five.  its so cliche, of course, but i truly don't know where the time has gone.  i can't believe he's five already.  as i look back over his life in pictures, i am both lost in love for him, and shocked by the sense of what is already gone.  his baby book, for example, ends at five years old.  and so we close the book on that.  and on what else?  who knows...

and so, mr. jack,  i am reminded to continue to cherish the moments as they arrive.  even, or especially, the mundane ones.  i bury my nose in your soft sandy hair and breathe deeply of your morning smell.  i get out the sticky tack to hang another one of your colorful star wars posters on your wall, celebrating your love of coloring.  i put on the "shrek song," and we dance like banshees, lost in reckless joy.  i chase you around the house like an evil robot, merciliessly tickling you when i catch you.  and i do all of this with a kind of emotional net, trying to catch these moments so i can pin them down or tack them up on the walls of my memory.  i never want to lose them. 

but enough about me.  it's your birthday.  so let me just say how proud i am of you.  you are off to an amazing start on this great big journey called life.  you sleep well.  you play hard.  you go to school.  you eat heartily.  you love art and construction.  you pray passionately (like when you say at the dinner prayer, "Jesus, you love everyone in the world, even us," or when you prayed the other night, "please help the kids in haiti, cause it sure looks like they are hurt.").  you are often quick to share and are always ready to take care of your brother.  and you are an absolute joy, my five year old son.  your mommy and i couldn't be prouder of you.  we look at this picture of you leaping, and we see the kind of joy we want you to face all of your life with: unbridled, unrestricted, uninhibited and reckless hope.  so keep jumping, jackson.  jump for joy, for hope, and for no other reason than it is an amazing gift to be alive, to be you.  happy birthday.  we love you.