Note to reader: This is one of an occasional series of postings chronicling my son Greg's senior year in high school. The above photo was taken on Greg's 10th birthday, July 26, 2002. ("Seventeen Come Sunday" is the first movement of English Folk Song Suite by Ralph Vaughan Williams -- one of my favorite pieces!)Greg will celebrate his 17th birthday this Sunday, July 26, 2009. He doesn't want a big party -- just the usual family cookout that we've held for most of his birthdays. And, of course, Steve and I will take him out for dinner later to his favorite Japanese restaurant. Saturday night he's going to a show (his favorite bands are playing), which will complete the birthday weekend. No "friends" party this year -- he's really beyond that stage now. No, this birthday is decidedly more . . . grown up.
I have to confess, though, I kind of miss the birthday parties with friends, even though they involved a fair amount of work and were often expensive! Plus, it was a real challenge to come up with an original theme. Most of Greg's friends' birthdays were earlier in the year; by the time his rolled around, the kids were already burned out on bowling, mini-golf, and pool parties. Ditto sleepovers (not recommended, by the way, if you want to keep your sanity). Oh, let's just admit it -- a lot of those parties were a great big hassle. And yet, I still miss them, if only because they gave me an endlessly fascinating window into my son's world.
Having grown up in a family of women (I have one sister, no brothers; all of my cousins except one are girls), I have been continually amused and bemused watching my son and his friends interact. Having a couple of friends over to play G.I. Joe was a case study in "boy-deology"; a birthday party was an anthropological graduate thesis! I truly believe, as a result of spending the last 17 years observing the behavior patterns of boys, that I have a much greater understanding of men in general. It has been quite an education! Case in point:
Exhibit A: Laser tag. This was the popular birthday party venue of Greg's junior high years. He attended several laser tag birthday parties and hosted three of his own. But, if I do say so myself, Greg's laser tag parties were the coolest. I mean that in the literal as well as the figurative sense. Thanks to Uncle Dan and Aunt Linda, we discovered Jaegerz Laser Tag & Paintball, just east of I-435 and 210 Hwy., on the north side of the Missouri River. It's located in "the caves," mostly owned by Hunt Midwest and rented out to businesses for warehouse space. Being in a cave, Jaegerz is climate-controlled year-round. Our first visit there was for Greg's 12th birthday. Put six 12-year-old boys in combat gear, give them each a laser tag gun and cut them loose in a dark room furnished with large barrels and other obstacles to hide behind, and they're in heaven! In fact, Jaegerz was so popular with Greg and his friends, we made two return visits.
At this point, I must acknowledge -- right here and now -- that yes, boys are pre-wired to play war-type games. We do not own firearms and have never once encouraged Greg to play with toy guns. But that did not deter him one bit. From an early age, he wanted a toy gun. We granted his wish only on the condition that no toy weapons that came into our house looked like real weapons. This was not always easy to enforce, especially when the coolest guns that "everybody else" had looked, well, real. We stood our ground. Nevertheless, he went through several years of obsession with soldiers and military history. Of all the "superhero" stages he went through -- Power Rangers, Batman, Ninjas, Star Wars -- G.I. Joe lasted by far the longest. The upside is that, around age 8, Greg began watching the History Channel to satisfy his appetite for all things military. I'm proud to say that last school year he was a straight-A student in his American History class!
My favorite of all of Greg's birthday celebrations occurred on July 26, 2002. Super Session weekend ( a rock-'n-roll reunion show that Steve played several summers at the Lake of the Ozarks) happened to coincide with Greg's birthday weekend. The show itself was a mini-vacation for us -- a weekend at the Lake with free lodging, and Steve even made a little money. Making it even more special that year, it was Greg's 10th birthday -- the first one in "double digits!" Greg decided he wanted to "turn 10 IN the lake." We rented a boat late in the afternoon and putted around the lake. Around 5:00 pm we cruised into a cove and cut the motor. Greg jumped into the lake. Steve and I watched the time and, at 5:22:50, we began counting down. 10 - 9 -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 - 2 -1 . . . at exactly 5:23 pm CDT (the time of his birth), we snapped the photo at the top of this post! Oh, to have a summer birthday!
In many ways, this one is as much a milestone as the birthday in the lake. It's the last one of childhood; next year he will be legally an adult. So, Happy 17th Birthday, Greg! May it be as much fun as laser tag and as satisfying as a dip in the lake. Enjoy this last year of being a kid -- it doesn't get any better!
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