'The Present'

Originally posted December 2013

Seventeen years ago last month, my parents drove up from their new home in Wisconsin, and I drove over from Houghton to celebrate my sister's birthday. We went out for a nice dinner and returned to my sister's studio apartment in Ironwood to watch her unwrap gifts. At some point, we stuck a bow on the top of my son's head and snapped a photo of it. 

Skip ahead a few years, and my son was showing his Buppa around our new apartment in Ripon, Wis. He pointed to the photo of himself decked out with a bow and told Buppa, "And that was when I was a present."

My father loved sharing that story. 

Today, my son told me he needs a baby picture for his yearbook. 

"Where's the one where I was a present?" 

Jace as "The Present" (November 1996)