Today You're My Favorite

A birthday tribute

The answer is 16.7%.  That’s what I get when I start with 100% of my love and divide it evenly over the number of kids I have.  I don’t mean love exactly – it’s more like time or attention or tolerance.  But it’s not unlimited.  It gets spread across a denominator of however many little blessings you have.

Of course I don’t always divide my time evenly – it’s more fun to let them battle it out for my attention.  All sorts of good lessons are learned on that battlefield.  And some that are not so good.

Today is my son’s birthday.  He’s 8.  The fourth kid in the pecking order.  You don’t get to make many decisions when you’re fourth in line.  But when you make a decision, you should make it memorable.  And that’s his anthem.  For example, we took him to the beach this summer and he made a decision to draw giant male anatomy in the sand for all the tourists.  He also made a splash in first grade with his decision to teach some kids a few new words he’d learned online…with the principal standing right behind him.  She too thought he’d made a great decision.  But his Yuletide decision this year was his most endearing. He decided to boost his brother’s wallet and use the considerable proceeds to buy Christmas presents for all his siblings.  And he bought two presents for the victim.  I thought that was a nice touch.

Here's the point.  16.7% isn’t much.  Sometimes you have to do things to stand out.  You always do that buddy.  So today you’re my favorite.