Birthday Boy

Today is my son’s birthday, and though I know he doesn’t like being the center of attention, sometimes you just have to do it. I raised Travis as a single father, and I’m sure I made a lot of mistakes along the way. Hopefully he’s forgiven me for most of them, and I guess I have to lay claim to at least some of his faults. I wish I could lay claim to some of his talents as well, because Travis is a gifted photographer, an amazing light painter, and I have no idea how he manages to grow the things he does.

I figured if I was going to embarrass him, I would try to find one of his baby pictures, but I don’t know what happened to them over the years. Here is one when he was 11 months old, with my father and mother.

This one was taken Christmas of 1980, when he was three. Don’t we look like a couple of stylin’ dudes, me and my boy?

For much of his childhood Travis was a latchkey kid, and I regret that because I missed out on some things I really should not have. I guess I tried to justify it by saying I had to earn a living, but for the life of me I can’t remember what any of those dollars I earned were spent on. I wish I had the memories instead.

Between his beard and tattoos, Travis may look scary to some people, but trust me, there’s not a kinder, gentler soul around. He still kisses his old man on the cheek every time he sees me and tells me how much he loves me. I guess a father can’t ever hope for more than that from his adult son, can he?

Happy birthday, Travis. I love you very much, and I can’t tell you how proud of you I am. You’ve grown to be a fine man and a fine human being.

Oh, and don’t forget, Terry made your favorite vegan carrot cake for your birthday. We look forward to spending some time with you this afternoon.

Today is your last chance to enter our Free Drawing for an audiobook of The Last Call, the first book in my dear friend George Wier’s Bill Travis mystery series.  We lost Bill a while back, but his amazing talent lives on through his great stories. I only have a few of his audiobook codes left, and once they are gone there won’t be any more.

To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn this evening. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books and audiobooks to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed.

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Thought For The Day – Don’t worry about getting older. You’ll still do dumb stuff, it just takes you longer.