When kids turn 24

Birthday boy
July 2018
Dryden, ON
Photo originally shared on Instagram

Ask any parent what they want for their kids and the answer will - or at least should - always be a simple one: A happy, successful life surrounded by people who love them unconditionally. As our eldest, Zach, turns 24 (!) today, we can't help but think that those wishes we first had the day we realized Debbie was pregnant with him, and again the day he was born, and every day since, are coming true.

He may look like me, but everything you can't see, the way he carries himself, his kindness, his empathy, is very much like his mom. My wife may lament the fact that she carried three kids to term, only to have them all emerge looking like little copies of me, but I'm thankful they inherited the best of her, and I'm thankful Zach set the tone for our lives as parents.

In many ways, he was born just yesterday, and seeing the number 24 is surreal, because time can't move that quickly, can it? But as he carefully finds and assembles the puzzle pieces of a life well lived - a career that challenges him, a soon-to-be wife everyone adores, a younger sister and brother who can't get enough of him, communities near and far that are enriched because he's a part of them - we can't help but be thrilled not only by the path he's on, but by the way he chooses to navigate it.

Happy 24th, kiddo. Know we love you more than words can say.