Drew

I missed blogging about Drew on his birthday because I was with him in Nashville. I love that when I go to Zoe I get to spend time with Drew.

Drew turned 22 on October 6th. He was an easygoing chubby baby whose smile was readily available for anyone who chose to talk with him. My mother called him Sunshine because he was always so happy. Drew loved books from infancy on. As a toddler he would sit by the bookshelves and look at each book intently and then toss it aside until there was a huge mound of books beside him. He also loved balls and would play catch with anyone who was willing. One day while I was holding him and he was holding a ball Grandma Danley asked him to throw the ball to her. It was a tiny football that he was holding and he threw it to Grandma so hard that he beaned her in the chest. We could all hear the thud. Grandma laughed.

Drew was a sturdy little boy with short cowlicked blonde hair and that ready smile still available. He played hard and he read hard. When he was four we lived in a townhouse community where the kids played outside along the sidewalks that connected our houses. One day Drew came running in the house with blood all over him and chanting like a mantra...Corey made me go too fast, Corey made me go too fast. Corey is his big brother. He had 6 stitches inside his mouth. The first of many injuries.
Once while putting him to bed I leaned down to his bottom bunk and kissed him goodnight and said...Goodnight my bookreader. And he replied rather indignantly...I am not a booger eater. Corey and I were laughing so hard that we couldn't tell him what I really said.

Sports became more and more important to Drew as he grew. He played soccer, basketball, tennis and baseball but soccer was his true love. I have loved watching him play since he was four but mostly I love the time spent with him in the car going to and from games. Time to talk and listen to music...it was always Bob Marley on the way to games...and time to reflect on the game on the way home. Great memories.

Drew has grown into a young man that I am very proud to call my son. He gathers many friends on his journey and is still thinking and reading and playing soccer. He is still in college and not sure of the direction that his studies are taking him but pushing forward anyway.

Drew, I wish for you a calling to a vocation that is fulfilling and full of purpose. Friends that will follow you all of your life. A relationship with Jesus that keeps growing and evolving. A marriage that will sustain you. And enough success at all of those to make you happy.

Happy 22nd birthday Drew!