My Son

My son, Dominic, has many faces. To me, all of them are adorable.

Today is not Dominic's birthday, nor has he done anything particularly noteworthy (unless you count making it through a day without getting hurt). It has occurred to me, however, that if all you know about me is what I have written in this blog, then you may not realize that, in addition to my husband of 35 years, and my daughter who got married last year, I also have a son...

I have a wondrous son. His name is Dominic Joseph. He likes to be called Dominic, and I really would like to honor that request, but I can't help myself -- whenever I say "Dominic," it feels like I'm about to scold him. So I just call him Scooter...Baby...Sweetie. You know, manly things like that. (Not really -- I call him Dj, and he lets me.)

I don't have a specific list of things I want to tell you about Dj; I simply want to tell you about him. We almost lost him when he was born. I won't go into the details here, but there was something wrong with his lungs, making it necessary for him to remain in the neonatal intensive care unit for almost an entire month before we were allowed to bring him home. Perhaps that's why I think he's so awesome -- He is, literally, a miracle to me. (Oh -- my husband almost lost him once at the mall when he was about three, but I won't go into the details of that either!)

Dj's funny. Really, really funny. He's creative, and he's gifted in a lot of ways. But at 21 years old, he has yet to discover how to use those gifts. He's sensitive and perceptive, but at times he seems totally oblivious. He struggles with a lot of things because of this little deficit he has in his attention compartment (from whence I have no idea he got!) He has his own style, and although in many ways he cares deeply what you think of him, he really doesn't give a rat's ass if you think he's weird because he'd rather have a Mudslide than a beer. (I love that about him.)

My son loves to make people laugh, but he doesn't take chances. Or perhaps his timing really is that good. Anyway I've seldom seen him try a joke and fail. It really bugs him when, if he does something funny, I keep asking him to repeat it for anyone who may have missed it. (Yes, I know that's not cool, but I am his mother.)

Dj's exceptionally loyal. He has a small group of friends who have been his friends since his earliest school days. (They're pretty loyal, too. I love that about them.)

I've heard it said that a picture's worth a thousand words. I don't know if it's actually a thousand words, but here's what the pictures I've included here say about Dj...

The one at the top (taken by my sister, Karen, from her pontoon boat at Lake Shannon last summer) says that Dj's a good sport. It also says that if he has to do something that makes him question his own judgment, at least he does it with flair. It was Michigan, it was August, and the water was cold. Dj was being chided by his dad for being a chicken -- well, Greg actually used a different word, but it wasn't very nice -- so he took a flying leap. (And my sister got a great shot, don't you think?)



This one's self-explanatory. It says that Dj's cute. (Karen also gets credit for this photo.)


And this last one, taken by my husband under Dj's direction, says that Dj has a great imagination, is fairly coordinated and can jump pretty high. I can't remember what his design was, but I think it had something to do with his inner album cover. (You have an inner album cover, don't you?)

So now you know I have a son, and that I love him. Did you know I also have a cat?