WHERE DID THE TIME GO?

Tonight we celebrated the fifth birthday of Nicholas Joshi. The above drawing was done by the head of his pre-school, who always draws a picture of the child whose birthday is coming up. It captures his essence (although the eyes do not do justice to his saucers) and his interests.


He has grown so much in the past few years, and I am always amazed by the young man he has become whenever I take the time to assess his maturation. At his birthday party this past Sunday, which virtually his entire class attended, he was at ease, carefree, and charming. He had none of the childlike awkwardness he formerly had and which I had at a much older age than him. He looked happy and full of life.

Today, he stayed home as it was Kathleen's day off and had a heck of a day. We opened presents in the morning together and then he went swimming. After dinner, we had ice cream and cake and sang Happy Birthday while he drummed for us.



A solo version of this song by Cate from this morning is shown below- "HAPPY TO YOU, DEAR BROTHER."



Later, we walked to the park. Nicholas headed straight for the highest slide and did it without a second thought. He ran across the bridge on the playground without looking down- neither of which he would have done one year ago. He looked out for his sister and wanted us all to play together- again which seemed exceptionally natural. Days like today make me realize how blessed I am to have my family and such an amazing son, who never ceases to amaze me.

The other day, out of the blue, Nicholas said to Kathleen, "Mama, when I die, I want you to put me in the fire, so you can put my ashes back into the earth." We were both blown away by this statement and taken aback. We asked him what he meant by this, and he said he wanted to be part of nature when he died. We explained how all of us will die one day and that some people do choose to be cremated. We quickly moved on to a more light-hearted topic, but, deep inside, we hoped that we would never have such a responsibility. We hoped that such an act one day many, many, many years from now would fall to Nicholas' son or daughter, who is certain to be every bit as exceptional as his/her dad.