In honor of Aidan's 14th birthday tomorrow, I thought I would post this picture. It is Aidan at Thomas Aquinas College last fall at the beginning of his sister's senior year.
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| Aidan being thoughtful at college |
Though Aidan can talk, he seems to communicate his interior life more by pictures than by words, because most of his vocabulary is very concrete.
He keeps coming up to show me this picture on my phone. It is picture 75 of about 300, so he has to hunt for it. Actually, I had to ask him to find it for me so I could upload it.
"Look at this!" he says. He has showed it to me again and again, and I have no idea what it is that means a lot to him about this picture.
Maybe he understands that for the first time since he was about 5, he does not have a sibling at the college? Maybe he realizes that this picture is in some sense an emblem of the past?
Or maybe he just likes the visual composition? (he definitely has a strong appreciation for design, judging by the care with which he hunts on the internet for Just the Right Picture of a car or a church or a cooler).
It is a bit of a mystery to me, but I agree with him that it's a nice picture, so I thought I would share. To me it looks contemplative and transitory. If it were on the cover of a book, it would be a coming of age and discerning vocation story.
When you think of Aidan's first few years, perhaps it is the calm and stillness of the picture he likes?
We did Aidan's official birthday party last week, because Clare and Peter had stopped by after their honeymoon to share his birthday with him, but we will probably have another little celebration tomorrow for his real birthday, so that his two oldest brothers can share too. After all, there can never be too many birthday celebrations for our miracle Aidan.
Here are a few more Aidan pictures:
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| Aidan in his nice suit at Clare's wedding |
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| Aidan with his beloved Dad |
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| Aidan waiting for his botox treatment (for his CP). He brings the Toy Story video cover with him everywhere. The cheerful faces cheer him up. |
Love you so much, Aidan!
You are special to everyone who knows you!!
When Aidan was a baby, somebody on some email list or other sent me his pictures and asked for prayers, and I prayed for him a lot--probably daily. The junior high/high school students in our homeschool group and some of the Catholic schools around here used to have a very powerful evening of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament on Tuesday nights, and I took them a picture of Aidan and asked them to pray for him, and I'm sure they did. It is such a blessing to see him now, and know how faithful and merciful God has been to him.
ReplyDeleteEveryone is growing so fast! Aidan is such a handsome young man. :)
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