The Random Yak

Today is Yak the Younger’s birthday.  As of 5:14 pm, he will have seen 15 full years.  In honor of the occasion, permit me to share a few Lessons Learned in the course of his lifetime:

1.  Parents should never say anything they don’t want repeated louder and more publicly.

2.  Turning your back on a 2 year old is a bad idea.  Turning your back on a teenager who can reprogram your computer is worse.

3.  Oreos, beef jerky and ice cream come only in single-serving containers.  (No matter how big the containers may appear.)

4.  A three year old with a sharpie can have a mustache if he wants one, regardless of his ability to grow hair.

5.  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but habaneros can also teach you a thing or two.

6.  If you’re going to steal dad’s candy, you’ll have better chance of getting away with it if you don’t leave all the empty wrappers on his desk.

Corollary to #6:  When confronted with the wrappers, a general denial isn’t always the best choice.  Especially if there were only three people in the house at the time and two of them were asleep.

7.  There is no blessing greater than a happy, intelligent, healthy child.

Fifteen years ago this evening, I welcomed a premature baby into the world.  (For the record, I still think he did it to make sure his birthday came earlier than mine.) The doctors weren’t completely sure he would have any birthdays at all.  That he has seen fifteen, with the promise of many more, gives me a joy almost as great as that I experience when I see the man he is beginning to become.  My father would have been proud, had he lived to see his oldest grandson today.  The Random Spouse and I are proud of his achievements, impressed by his character, and occasionally mortified by his continuing insistence on proving his snark is at least as fast and well-heeled as my own.  But that, I probably should have expected.  After all, the acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Happy Birthday to Yak the Younger.  May he have many, many more.