Happy 17th Birthday Reggie! |

I’m of the age where the reproductive stage has certainly past. The age where some of my friends are grandmothers all ready, I was a late bloomer. 17 years ago I was in BlockBuster, cruising the aisles for new music, this was pre i tunes etc., back in the old days when you went to music stores and bought cd’s for $20. I was passing time until I had to pick up my 1st grader Amani, even though November 18th was my official due date and that morning, when I took Amani to school she said, “My brother is coming today”, for some reason I didn’t think so… So of course when my water broke, as I was listening to Toni Braxton‘s new release Un-Break my Heart trying to decide if I was going to add it to my small stack of $20.99 CDs- I knew my son would be here shortly.

I picked Amani up went home, called Reggie, btw this was pre-cell phone days, arrived at the hospital around 5 and Reggie entered the world a little before 10PM. Life has never been the same.

Nov 18 1996

This is the first time we will not celebrate Reggie’s birthday with him, he will celebrate with his classmates and his Italian family. It is an odd feeling not being together, I’m a big birthday person and I have always celebrated my kids special day. Do to the shipping situation in Italy I could not even send him a gift, just a call and a happy birthday wish, oh and an ATM deposit. Although it is so cliche, time really does go by fast, I didn’t believe it when other parents would tell me this, but oh it is so true. From the Elmo to Sponge Bob, gameboy to PS 3, i pod to i mac, Sean John to Prada, In N Out to A.O.C, it has been a blast watching you grow and develop into this eccentric guy.

So take the time and create lasting memories with your children, soon they will be young adults with their own agendas, which is a good thing. I sometimes think perhaps we should have had another baby, when that door was still slightly opened. Reggie has one more year of high school left, but he is already making plans to go east for college.