Valentine's

every year ♥ valentine's day ♥ comes. every year eddie turns another year older. this year he's 13. a real teenager.

it was heaven that day; having a baby all wrapped up, warm and snug. the perfect valentine's day gift. my doctor recommended we name him adonis. i ignored him of course. eddie spent all of his 2nd grade year trying to convince me to call him james. he had succeeded in convincing all of his elementary school to call him by his first given name. it was always very confusing when i was talking to his teacher (i was the room mom and i talked to her A LOT!!) because she would be talking about this boy named james, and it took me a while to finally realize this boy named james was my son named eddie. once he stood in front of all his classmates, and other parents, and read a short story. i thought how nice he was, to be reading a story his friend james had written, finally realizing, james was edddie and it was actually his story.

all his friends would yell to him in the hallways.

"hey james!"

"james, is that your mom?"

"what's up james?!"

more than once i pulled papers from his folder reading JAMES scribbled in the top corner, thinking his teacher had mixed up and put in the wrong papers.

i'm pretty sure his teacher thought i should call him james too. when i would correct her, saying we actually call him eddie, not james, she would ignore me and continue to address my eddie as james.

he worked hard to convince me. he would have had his dad's support if i hadn't given chris the evil eye every time it was brought up. it didn't help matters that his best friend across the street had changed to his first name, joseph, from his middle name, peyton.

i still refuse to call him james. eddie it will always be.

but i will always remember that ♥ valentine's day as my favorite.

ever.

(well, this year chris got me two more burners for my stove-top. tears welled up as i read the receipt. this year might be a VERY close second.)