It's a Beautiful Day

"It's a beautiful day today, Mommy!"

This was the greeting my 3 year old Mikey would give to me every morning, no matter the weather. In the midst of a blizzard, a torrential rain, a bright summer day, he thought everything was beautiful and I should be happy, and if I wasn't, he would work hard to find a reason for complete happiness...for me. And I didn't ask him of this. Nor did I need it. What I discovered I needed though, was this sweet little spirit that roamed about my messy house, contented and pleased simply to be part of the joy that flowed through his family. A joy he was then, and is now, still a grand and gracious part of.

All the greatest parenting experts say you shouldn't be your childrens' friend. But I can't help it with this one. He is what my Jewish grandmother would call a "mensch". He is a friend (even if he is one who has to wash the dishes at night, help his littlest brother get pants on in the morning, and take the dog out for walks. Even if he is my son to whom I must teach discipline, he so much still my friend).

Michael's goal in life is to bring honor to those he respects. I know this more than I know most things. He is pleased when we are pleased. But what he doesn't realize is that - even when he disagrees with us - we are happy, because he is Michael and he is ours.

Michael is the kind of kid who teachers have school conferences about just because they want to thank his parents for allowing him to be part of their class. True story. I have had, at least, three teachers say this to me.

I arrive to conferences all messy-haired and unshowered and a suited teacher is shaking my hand, not because of me, but because of the kid I send off to school each day.


When my good friend, Catholic School Sister, was eating lunch with a friend of hers who happens to be Michael's junior high football coach, he suddenly brightened up at Michael's name and said,

"He is a great kid! Tell his parents they are doing something right."

But it is only part our doing and a large part Michael's. A complete part Our Lord's doing. Michael is a hundred times the human being I was at his age. Already, he has more integrity than me in many ways. He challenges me to be a better person, because he is already a better person than I am. He won't just be something great as an adult. He is something great now, and I love him more than the sunshine of a beautiful day. After all, the first truly beautiful day of my life was the late afternoon in early September, the moment he was born.

His father held him in his arms until he they both fell asleep snoring.

His first cry was, "Maaaaa! Maaaaaa!" And I will never let him live that one down.

When he was getting his three year old check up, he turned to his pediatrician, Dr. Meehan, and asked curiously, "Are you Irish, Dr. Meeman, because you look Irish."

"Send this one to Harvard," Dr. Meehan said, and he genuinely lights up whenever he sees Michael at his yearly check up. They chat like old pals.

When I invited friends to offer Michael a word of spiritual and life advice for his 13 birthday (which I am collecting for his scrapbook I will be giving him tonight), without any exceptions every single participant was excited to offer Michael their words. I think, because most of them know that Michael will be excited to read them, be open to heeding them, and will look forward to living a life of great character.

He is just that kind of kid, and he is 13 now. A teenager. I look forward to discovering the young man he will become.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MIKEY!

You make my every day beautiful.

(He will be so embarrassed if he reads this:) I should send it over the loud speaker at his school...It will produce what we in the family call, "Michael's Russian Smile".