"Little James with all of his names...."

I have no wish to embarrass my son, but it is his 25th birthday today, and I think I'll take a few liberties. James was born at 5:41am in Swedish Hospital and moved directly into its neonatal intensive care unit. He was diagnosed with acute renal failure and respiratory distress even though he was of a good weight and size. He stayed in the ICU for ten days, and for an extra couple of weeks after that, he had blood drawn daily at Children's Hospital. So he has always been somewhat of a miraculous child, precocious and feisty at the same time. I will spare you all the stories in between, but note that the man sitting in the museum gallery above is a man of firm opinions and well-thought out beliefs.

While he was in ICU, my husband wrote a little jingle for me to make into a lullaby for him once he was home. It goes like this:

Little James

with all of his names,

came into the world on Tuesday.

We gave him six hugs,

wrapped him in rugs,

and took him home the next Thursday.

I spared James that poem on my Facebook post today, choosing instead the small poem that Leroy wrote for me to embroider on to the quilt that I had made for his crib before he was born.

Lambs wake

on a high hill.

My heart

is still.

Happy Birthday, James Harrison Sowers Searle. Your mother is still your biggest fan.