...if you needed me to

Dear Benjamin,

I'm a sucker for that face (just ask daddy). You were my biggest baby, 9 lb. 6 oz, and your delivery was so long and so excruciating, I thought I'd die. You arrived a scant 15 months after your older sister, Priscilla. "Irish Twins!" people would say to me whenever I dared to go out in public with my three tiny children, age 4 and under. You used to introduce yourself as "the nicest boy in the world." You're snuggly and generous, which to me makes up for the mayhem and the destruction that tends to follow in your wake. "BENJAMIN LEONARD SABOURIN!!" is how I usually call your name - how most people do if they spend more than fifteen minutes with you. Tomorrow, you turn six-years-old. It's hard to believe, really. You can't fathom that there was ever a time in my life without you in it ("But where am I," you wonder when you see our wedding pictures). For six years you've been stretching me, delighting me and keeping me always, always, always on my toes. I'd do anything for you, go anywhere. I'd scale a mountain, wrestle a bear, swim across an ocean, play Rescue Heroes, Star Wars, Matchbox Cars...if you (really) needed me to. I wish for you health, peace and love. And for myself, I wish for but a fraction of your exuberance. Happy Birthday, sweetheart.

Love,

Mama