A REALLY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Today is our son Reid's 34th birthday and we are excited about celebrating this milestone. We all have a tendency to take birthdays for granted...especially our children's birthdays. It's always assumed they'll outlive us. Most of us don't dare to think otherwise.


October 13, 2009 was a wake up call for us. One day Reid seemed perfectly healthy and the next day we learned that he had a large mass in his chest and a tumor in his spinal canal. Talk about scary!

After spinal surgery, and a week on pins and needles waiting for the pathology report, we learned that he had Hodgkin's Lymphoma. On January 8, 2010 we learned that he is in remission! He still has to finish out the six months of chemo, but things are really looking good right now. Yes, we'll still have to be concerned about the chemo side effects that might follow him for the rest of his life, but the cancer has been knocked on its "you know what." And although he still doesn't have all the feeling back from the chest down he is walking much better and has recently graduated from a walker to a cane.

We have so much to be thankful for this year.

We'll actually go out for dinner this weekend to celebrate. This isn't a good week for Reid. He had chemo on Saturday and will not feel much like eating until Friday or Saturday. That's OK, we'll wait.

Here are some pictures of Reid through the years.

September 1976

September 1977

March 1980

December 1982

3rd Grade Picture

(Can you guess what movie was popular?)

5th Grade Picture

High School Year Book Picture - 1994

2009 - You saw this picture at Christmas, but it's the most recent one I have of him. This is Keith (on the left) and Reid (on the right) making meatballs on Christmas Eve.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY REID!!!

MAY YOU HAVE MANY, MANY MORE!!!

(And I've never said that with more sincerity.)