Is it possible?? Very early this morning, 21 years ago, Annie decided it would be a good project to re-do the back hall while everyone waited for the word that you had been born. If memory serves me, it was 2 a.m. when I heard what Annie was all about. It's the first vivid memory I have of that day. We waited and waited and waited; you took your own sweet time to enter the world.
And now here you are, 21 years later, a young man coming into your own.
There's a special emptiness in this house without you - a "missing" place quite unlike those left behind by your sisters and brother. Nobody can fill that space but you. And nobody would want to.
And that, I think, is a good measure of how much you are loved by all of us.
I miss you, Brent. But I'm happy for you; as are we all.
And I can't wait to meet you again in October.
Have a very Happy Birthday, sweetheart. The Birthday Balloon, as always, is here, even if you aren't.
PS What a special day it is today: Paul is going home! I don't suppose any one of us will ever forget this day!
