Happy 30th Birthday Karl!

Thirty years ago, this very day, ( at 5:14 a.m. to be exact) our first born entered the world.  As any parent will attest, there is NOTHING LIKE the birth of a child, and when it is your first, you realize how utterly indescribable the experience is.  It's the exact moment when you discover that you have the capacity to love this little baby more than you could have ever imagined.  Life changing!
We were YOUNG!  I look back on the pictures and realize how much we look like kids ourselves. But, we had read lots of parenting books, and had a number of friends who already had kids so we considered ourselves ready. 

We obviously didn't know everything, but we loved figuring it out as we went.  It has been a grand adventure.

We have loved parenting you Karl and have so many fun, meaningful, and adventuresome memories and stories about you. (We will relive them over Thanksgiving when we get to celebrate with you in person.)

You weren't afforded the luxury of being an only child for long.  In fact, you will never have a memory of life without siblings as they followed along pretty quickly. But you took on being an older brother with gusto.

You are one of the most unique and gifted people we know and you have delighted us in  unimaginable ways throughout your entire 30 years.  We are so proud to have you as our son and love you immeasurably.

It gives us such joy to see you using your gifts and skills to accomplish GREAT things and we can't wait to see where your "investment" leads you.  You have so much to look forward to as you begin this 30th year!

Have fun opening up your gifts and celebrating with Laura!  We can't wait to hear all about it!