Thirty four years ago today, you came quietly into this world uttering barely more than a squeak to announce your arrival. You were adorable, our tiny firstborn child.

We had chosen another name for you before you were born but when we met you for the first time somehow we knew you were a ‘Jonathan’, so this is what we called you. Later we discovered this name means ‘God’s gracious gift’.

Soon the doctor came with news. You were different. He told us you wouldn’t be like other kids and would be delayed in growth and learning. I dreaded the sight of that doctor because his news was never good. His reports about you were all negatives, no positives.

But here’s what the doctor never told me, what he couldn’t know:

•How your smile lights up my universe

•How mysterious, charming, funny, resilient, observant, smart and grumpy you can be

•How your every achievement feels like winning the lottery

•How seeing life though your eyes change my perspectives

•How you simplify my priorities and humble my heart

•How ‘perfect’ and ‘normal’ are ideas by which I measure my own unrealistic expectations

•How selfishness is continuously discarded from my life

•How patience, compassion and kindness must always be practiced

•How to let go, while still holding on to what matters

•How to love unconditionally

•How prayer is a life preserver

•How trust and reliance on God are essentials

The doctor never told me how profoundly your life would change mine.

I guess he didn’t know, couldn’t know because he never had the privilege of experiencing you as I have. He couldn’t see the positives because he’s never had the opportunity to live them.

Today is your birthday, and as we light the candles and celebrate; I now know that the real gift is you.

God’s gift to quietly instruct, inform and adjust me into the person I am still becoming. 

Happy Birthday, Jonathan Michael Connis!

I’m blessed to call you my son.