I posted on Facebook last night that I kissed Ian for the last time as a 7 year old. Those things hit you after they happen sometimes. After I hit send, I thought maybe I should go get him back up and do some more fun stuff with him one last time before the "Big 8". But going that route isn't exactly looking forward, but holding onto the past.


He's 8 now. No doubt about it. But the cool thing is that while he's getting older physically, he regressing a little mentally, so to speak. More accurately, I think he senses that he's the older son, and is a little jealous of the physical affection I show Eli. So he's been quite clingy these past few weeks. And I'm soaking it up big time. He wants to hug me? All good. A kiss for the old man? Bring it. I know these days with him aren't too far from being gone forever.


The major bonus this year is that his birthday falls on Fathers Day. Awesome. Last time that happened was in 2004. The sad thing is that because of how the leap years fall, this won't happen until 2021, and he turns 19. That's too damn long to wait for this awesome double feature, so I made sure to make the most of it. We played games, sports, built a Lego ship, and talked.


So, for those that aren't aware of our tradition, every year we head across the street to the park and take a photo of Ian on the same springy race car thingy, for lack of a better name. It rocks back and forth. His first birthday, he let me put him on it and he didn't complain at all. It was just a cool shot, and made a nice visual to go with his birthday announcement that this year had "raced" by.


The second year I could barely snap the shutter before he wanted to get off. Once he hit three, he was all good with it, and I knew this was a tradition that I had to do at all costs, for as long as that piece of equipment is there. The exception being the year we went to Disney for his 5th birthday. If they take that race car out, it will break my heart.


Here is the link to Ian's main page with all the years broken up. You can see that each gallery is represented by that same image taken on his birthday.
http://www.pbase.com/frsty50/ian


I'm also doing the same tradition with Eli as well. But that is another story for 40 days from now.


Happy 8th Birthday, Ian. I love you with all that I am, and will ever be.