He Takes My Breath Away

A few weeks ago, Chappy's office manager gave us tickets to attend the Frist Gala. Chappy dressed up in his penguin suit...I made my best effort to get gussied up for the event...and we prepared to leave our children behind for a fancy evening out on the town.

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Caleb, our 16 year old (and the oldest of the kiddos), stood up when I entered the great room where he was watching a football game.

His exact words are etched on my memory and will never be forgotten: "My mom is gorgeous." As I caught my breath and willed tears to not come forth from my eyes, he stood and took three gigantic steps across the great room floor, bent down to give me a delicate hug, and then pulled away to just look at me with a smile.

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Determined not to cry, I grinned for a moment, then as Chappy walked into the room, Caleb followed with a: "You guys have fun!" and took his place in front of the TV again....back into football.

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I could not speak for thirty minutes. I knew if I said a word I would weep like a baby and end up looking like a raccoon for the evening. Chappy was so busy trying to get us to the Gala on time, he didn't notice how quiet I was. Finally, I gained my composure enough to say: "You are never going to believe what happened tonight before you came out of the bedroom." Chappy's reply: "Hmmm....what happened?" as he continued to speed down I-65.

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My voice cracked as I told him: "When I walked into the great room tonight, Caleb stood up and said: 'my mom is gorgeous'". As I recanted Caleb's words to Chappy, all the tears I had been holding back came gushing.

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Laughter from Chappy. I gave him a sideways glance through my blubbering and swiping of tears. More laughter from Chappy. Very out loud laughing!

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"Why are you laughing?" I asked, still half crying but with a bit of an edge to my normally somewhat sweet southern accent as I rifled through my purse for a spare tissue.

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"I am laughing because I know Caleb is going to be incapable of doing anything wrong in your eyes for a very very long time dear." Then he smirked....that kind of look Chappy gives when he realizes something has happened to make me very happy.

Of course he was right. In my 42 years of life, it is quite possible sweeter words have never been spoken to me than those coming from my sixteen year old, 6 foot tall, athletic boy who is dangerously close to becoming a man. On October 7th, 1994, a seven pound, three ounce little boy with big brown eyes took my breath away. Sixteen years later, he is still taking my breath away.

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