Happy 16th Chase!

How crazy it is that our youngest is now 16 years old?!  It is so cliche to say “it feels like only yesterday” he was wondering around with a bottle in one hand and Conner’s hot wheels in the other but it is true – it really does feel like only yesterday.  We spent a really fun weekend in Gainesville celebrating Chase’s big day.  He invited several friends, we got a couple hotel rooms, borrowed Scott and Crista’s suburban and went to one of the boy’s favorite skateparks.  Unfortunately Chase was pretty sick all weekend (turns out he had the flu but we didn’t know it) but he stuck in there and still had a great time.  We went to a really fun place for dinner called Satchels and on his instagram Chase actually thanked all of us there for making it the “sickest birthday dinner ever”.

On Friday when Chase was able to go get his license I picked him up from school a little early and we headed out for him to take the driving test.  I should preface the next part of this story by saying that the number 22 has long been my favorite number (I’m really not certain why) and so when the time 2:22 appears on the clock or the date 2-22 comes around, it makes me smile for no good reason – it just does.  The boys (and in particular Chase) have picked up on that and will sometimes send me texts right at 2:22 to say hi.  I will sometimes do the same and say something like “It’s 2:22 and I’m thinking of you” or “It’s 2:22 and I love you”.

Okay, so back to the story – as Chase and I were driving for him to take his test he was playing a song from his iPhone and very randomly (for no apparent reason) the song stopped.  When Chase looked at his phone to try to find out what happened he noticed the song stopped 2 minutes and 22 seconds into the song.  When we arrived at the place where Chase was to take his test we had to take a number – take a random guess what that number was?  Yep, 22 and then, to our amazement (and if it hadn’t happened to me I might not believe it) the driving test guy called his name at exactly 2:22!!!

The other day Chase and I were texting after he sent me a 2:22 message and I said that well into his adult life he is going to be reminded of me everytime he happens to see that time of day.  He smiled (by text) and said that when he’s 50 he will still be sending me messages telling me he is thinking of me – I certaintly hope so!

Back to the birthday story!  So after he passed (of course he passed with all those good luck 22’s!) I told him I would really love to go get a Starbucks so could he drive us there.  What he didn’t know is Chris, Conner and Chase’s girlfriend Brittany were meeting us there with the truck to surprise him.  There had been this uncertaintly about what vehicle Chase was going to drive and of course he wanted to drive his Dad’s truck, but what would that leave Chris with?  We had been given the restored VW Bug by Chris’ parents, but we didn’t feel that was a safe car for a new driver, we didn’t have the money to purchase anything else.  So after much deliberation we determined we would let Chase use the truck for six months without paying for anything but the gas and then we would decide what would happen once the six months had passed.  Chase didn’t know we had made that decision though so when we drove up and the truck was there filled with balloons it was a fun surprise!