happy birthday to the neverland boy

Today is Boy 2’s birthday, which means many wonderful things for him and for me.

Because birthdays are for mamas in a secret way. Like little treasures we squirrel away for the long winters of life, these happy days are our hidden stash of joy.

This birthday boy is a child of my soul. Behind his big blue eyes is a mind as deep as the ocean, and there are a precious, trusted few that he allows to see the depths. I count it a holy privilege to be among his chosen friends.

This boy wants childhood to go on forever. It isn’t that he’s immature. He just loves being a boy, being full of life and free to live. Boy 2 dwells in Neverland, cultivating all sorts of happiness there.

His best gift to the world is the way his love leads the rest of us there with him.

His favorite letter is an exclamation point, his favorite day is any day spent lounging about, and his favorite food is whichever one will gain him the right to eat dessert. None of this makes much sense unless you know our Neverland Boy.

To celebrate him, I will bake him his favorite cake, we will gather as a family and tell funny stories about him, and then watch him open his presents. 

This birthday memory will be locked away with others that are just as precious. It will glow deep in my own Neverland box with the first time I felt his breath on my cheek, and the sound of his little voice saying “kiss-miss twee” when he was two years old. They are snug and safe in there alongside his hugs that melt the icy places of my soul, and the way he plays the piano, how he makes the notes say things that words can’t.

It is a pure and mysterious joy to know a human from their first breath; to see with the passing of years the miracle of simply becoming happen right there in front of you.

Happy Birthday, Boy 2. You are loved. You are a blessing. Enjoy Neverland today.

I have a feeling that you are devising a plan to live there forever, or a loophole that will allow you to wrap up boyhood and take it with you everywhere God leads.  My secret prayer is that you will succeed, because that is who God has called you to be, and because the world needs more boys just. like. you.