In just a couple of days, our son, Eric, will be turning 18 years old! Pretty much an adult, a man pushing six feet tall who grew up, it seems to me, in the blink of an eye. I’m sure that, to anyone with kids who reads or read this can totally relate to that last sentence.

For me personally, unfortunately, a lot of my memories of Eric are blurred or totally gone, I assume because of all the seizures that I’ve had through the years. But I never, ever let them stop me from working with Annette to raise a great kid who has already done wonderful things with his life.

Lets start in the classroom, where Eric is an honor student and has balanced working part-time without ever getting caught up in, say, going to too many parties and ignoring his schoolwork. Many times, kids his age overlook the importance of doing schoolwork or studying for tests and quizzes. Ann and I have never had that problem with Eric. He has always been able to do well in school and never been in any trouble.

While Eric has had work to occasionally juggle his schoolwork with play rehearsals, I’ve also been impressed by all the different plays that he has been a part of, including by his estimation at least 20 lead roles, including Demetrius in A MidSummer Night’s Dream, Huey in Memphis and what he said was his favorite role, Jack in Into The Woods. I could list a bunch more because I’m impressed with every part that he ever had, lead or otherwise from the time he first got on stage at the age of 4.

In just a few months, unless the corona virus holds things up, Ann and I will watch Eric head off to the school of his choice for the first time, confident that we’ve done a good job raising him and feeling great about his decision.

Until then, however, Ann and I will cherish the time we have remaining with the best son a parent could ever hope to have. Happy birthday, big guy!