Today is Trey’s 13th birthday.  I dedicate this post to him.

Dennis Jay Jackson, III, or “Trey” as we have always called him, arrived unexpectedly early on Memorial Day of 2001.  He was not due to arrive for another month, but when I was having some medical issues that day, the doctor on call said to go to the ER “just in case.”  It was a holiday, after all, so my doctor’s office was closed, I’d like to point out it really didn’t feel like anything worthy of an emergency room.

Nevertheless, my husband, Dennis heard the words “emergency room,” and went into full “this is it” mode.  He even made me bring my overnight hospital bag.  He wouldn’t even let me walk from the parking lot, but insisted that I be dropped off at the ER door.  All of this felt like overkill to me, I might add.  

Needless to say, it was quite a surprise a few minutes later to learn that my “issues” were that I was actually in early labor! It turned out our little one wanted to arrive feet first, so this meant I’d be having an emergency surgery and having a baby right away.  Dennis Jay Jackson III was born a short while later at 1:53PM, weighing just 5 pounds, 11 ounces.

Just a few days later we were driving home from Arlington Memorial Hospital with a tiny, but perfectly healthy, baby boy.  Honestly, we had no clue what we were getting ourselves into.  You know, they’ll let you take your baby home from the hospital as long as you have an infant car seat, they don’t even ask if you have any idea how to be a parent!  

Well, for the last 13 years, we’ve been able to figure out a little bit about what it means to be parents.  It’s too early to tell the results, we are far from finished, but I can say I am very proud of how our son is turning out so far.

Trey, you are one of life’s greatest blessings to your dad and I.  We are so very proud of you.  I especially love how you show compassion for others and want to help people.  Your involvement in church youth ministry and especially mission trips warms my heart.  I love that you care so much about what is going on in the world and I really learn a lot through you and your discoveries.  I love when we get to go on runs together. I love your art. I like your character and how you seem to be picking good friends.  I really like you, Trey.  I even like that your feet are now bigger than mine and we look at each other eye to eye already.