Happy Birthday Colm...

I am officially in shock folks...I am the mother of a sixteen year old!!! Of course I am the world's youngest mammy as I had him when I was four and am not a day over 21...ahem! Oh well alright then spoil sports...I actually had him when I was eighteen and had my place secured in Napier University, Edinburgh for a degree in Newspaper Journalism after sitting my A-levels....at the time the thought of having a baby and missing out on the opportunity to continue my studies and live life on the wild side like all my friends filled me with fear but I have to say that sixteen years on I wouldn't swap my big fella (who is now taller than me) for the world! I love him more than life itself and in many ways he did me a big favour by deciding to turn up when he did!

I am not for a moment advocating teenage pregnancy (before you all jump on me from a great height for being a bad and irresponsible influence) but Colm's arrival meant that my life went in a completely different direction than it may have done if my original plan had come to fruition! For a start I doubt if I would have had my gorgeous daughter Una, I also doubt that I would have ever met Philip, who is the absolute love of my life (stop telling me not to be soppy...my hormones are firing on all cylinders...I'm allowed!) which means that I wouldn't have my precious Aine or my current bump nor would I have had the opportunity to meet and bond with his children and to boot I may have actually succeeded in my chosen career path and been a newspaper journalist as opposed to an author and wouldn't be sitting writing this blog now....whew...isn't my son a brilliant lad altogether for arriving when he did!!

I am a great believer in things happening for a reason and life being mapped out for you and am very thankful to the man in the sky for giving me my wonderful firstborn son as he means the world to me...of course he has his moments where I could cheerfully knock him out for not tidying his room, constantly fighting with his sister (who he loves really...they can't fool me), not knowing where the dishwasher is and being under the mistaken belief that his clothes are magic and therefore capable of making their own way to the laundry basket...but what can I say...he is a teenage boy and I'd probably die of shock and want to take his temperature to diagnose illness were he suddenly to turn into a clean freak who was willing to wear ordinary clothes minus a designer logo...sorry didn't I mention the penchant for anything with a label on it...if it ain't Henley's, Haywire or Crosshatch these days we do not want to know...no George or Cherokee or Peacocks will do anymore...noooo sirreee God forbid a top might cost less than 20 quid!!!

Happy birthday to my big man who has brought such joy and comfort to me over the years and who is the apple of his Granda's eye (well, growing up with an only girl it's only natural that he would be delighted with a wee man who would become his shadow over the years!)


Love you son xxx