This post is to my son. He is graduating college this weekend. A long journey it has been. He entered the world at a whopping weight of 3 lbs 10 ounces and an astonishing length of 17 ¼ inches surprising us by coming early by three months. He didn’t even give me a hint that he was coming. The short trip to the hospital we arrived to find I was almost fully dilated. In the first two weeks of his life we almost lost him multiple times due to his heart and lung failing on him. Within those two weeks he gained a full pound. That should have been a red flag that I gave birth to a garbage disposal on two legs.

He now towers over me at over 6 feet and weighs roughly150 lbs. From day one he has been by my side, sometimes getting in between my feet. We did everything together. The pictures show me that. We have been through a lot of ups and downs. But it is magnified when you have a single child.

The awards, the ceremonies, the taxi trips to events, schools and a host of other things for that is what happens when you are a parent. He is a perfect blending of his parents. He is a carbon copy of his dad from head to toe. If I went into court the judge would surely deny any claim I have on him. My mom and mother in law both told me early on I had his chin and ears. You know, the things they tell moms when your child looks nothing like you.

But where he looks like his dad, his personality is me. It is like looking into a mirror. Some days that is fantastic, while others not so much. He has inherited some of his dad’s personality which offsets mine.

No longer is he my little man who was always by my side as I went about my day. Our roles constantly changing as we both got older. He can vote, drive, go to war, marry, have a child, work and a host of other things. I am excited to see where this new journey of his will take him. But he will never get to old to be my little man, my sidekick, my Bo, my son.

The greatest achievement I have every done and nothing I can ever do will top that.