There is this young man down Austin way who has a big day today.

Samuel James Jewell Gander. Fourteen. 14.

i hope all of his 14 is as good as my Fourteen. 14, 1958 was one of the best years of my life. 8th grade, Junior High. It’s different now. Things have changed and there is a quite a bit more unknown for Sam than it was for me. Even though the unknown was limited by my world being more parochial in that telecommunications, electronics, technology, and Lord knows what else had not homogenized us, had not polarized us.

But after watching Sam, even from afar most of the time, for 14 years, and claiming he was the unifier of a nuclear family when he was born, i know he is going to be fine. i’ve watched his mother and father raise the young man the right way. i’m proud of them too.

i won’t go into my 14. i’ll save that for later and maybe describe it to Sam when i see him.

i’ll just say Sam is talented, smart, kind, and, i believe mature for his age. i won’t predict what he will do in the future except to say, he is going to be all right. And oh yeh, i love his sense of humor.

His Aunt Sassy flew to Austin to celebrate with Sam and Blythe and Jason. i’m glad.

No, i’m more than glad. i’m in a heaven, a heaven far away, but there is nothing, nothing that makes me more elated than seeing my two daughters and my grandson loving being together. i stole these photos from Blythe and Sarah’s Facebook pages. i think you’ll get the picture:

There were no photos of Jason. He’s a man, a dad, and will understand.

Happy Birthday, Sam.

i love you and those other three.

Happy 14.