Cody’s Birthday

Today is Cody’s birthday. I’m trying to figure out a painless way to scan and post some pictures.

Cody was my little redhead. Red hair, freckle-faced and the most beautiful big green eyes. My sister-in law Mary always called him her Huckleberry Finn.

She was down visiting from Alaska one year and got out a book for him to read. He not only read it, but acted it out very dramatically. Mary was laughing herself silly and asked him what he was doing.

“My teacher says you should read with color.”

I don’t recall the teacher’s name now, but I will always be thankful to her for instilling the desire for children to bring stories to life.

Cody was the one who gathered “flowers” for me all the time. The stinky little weeds were treasured gifts when he brought his carefully gathered bouquet in. He, of course, appreciated the finer things in life also and often brought me in roses off my rose bushes.

He was the one who crawled up in my lap and wanted to be loved. He was always very affectionate and I love that in him.

Cody always loved to cook. I came home from the store one day and he made Jell-o. It was sugar free Jell-o and he couldn’t find on the box how much to add so he added a cup of sugar to it. It was, very sweet.

When he went through his roping phase, he was never without a rope in his hand. He roped his roping dummy, cans, stumps, posts, cats, rocks, his brothers. Brandon didn’t appreciate being a roping dummy and told him to quit roping him. Cody roped him one too many times and I heard blood-curdling screams coming from the front yard. Brandon took his rope away from him, roped him tied his feet to the top rail of the fence and tried to drown him with a water hose.

Life was never boring around our house.

If I could turn back time I would have given you more of me. We would have survived without me working. I would have insisted more and listened less when things went wrong. I would make sure no matter what you always knew how very much I love you.

Cody and I have been talking a lot about me moving to Oklahoma to be closer to him, Aly and Stormie. He doesn’t tell me I don’t need a house to take care of or a horse. He calls me and tells me he found a house five miles off the highway on seventeen acres that would be perfect for me if I get a four-wheel drive to get back and forth. He tells me we will go look for a horse and Aly and I can rope together. He tells me to come up and we’ll go to a concert. He tells me I need someplace quiet so I can write. In other words, he doesn’t tell me what all I am too old to do, he tells me we can make it happen.
So, happy birthday to my little Huckleberry Finn.

Mother loves you.