As I write this I am ending a weekend in Chicago where I’ve had the opportunity to begin my role as an “almost Mother-in-Law” attending a shower for my son’s fiancée with the added bonus of a visit with my two older sons.

It is remarkable to reflect on two tow-headed toddlers, 14 months apart, initially inseparable as they played with Duplo,  advancing on to Lego.  Moving through life they developed distinct characters and personalities and the interests turned to guitars, video cameras, college textbooks and girls turning into women.  Just as it is amazing to be both insider and observer to the past stages of development, it is humbling to see the men they have become.  In a few short years they have gone from Duplo to Foucault and all the stages in between. They are deep thinkers and communicators, challenging me to analyze and articulate in a clearer way.

Joel is the philosopher and musician. He has introduced me to Foucault, Žižek, and Jazz. He challenges the cliches of religious talk, demanding authenticity. Joel is as comfortable talking to a professor as he is communicating with the homeless and has earned the title of “Mayor of Chicago” from his friends who claim he knows everyone in the city. If you head to the coffee shop where he works in the Wicker Park area of Chicago, he will make you an amazing coffee drink where frothed milk will create an artificial mustache on your upper lip.

Micah is the filmmaker and out of a shell of an idea can create a story on the screen. His work has a depth and creativity to it that has already earned him awards and encouragement. He has, throughout his life, lived at a different level than his peers with an understanding of faith and redemption that is beyond his years. Added to that is a zany sense of humor that brings Harry Carey impressions in living color to our home and earned him second place in a speech tournament during high-school. He is deeply in love with an amazing, beautiful woman named Lauren and they will start their life as a married couple this spring on April 9th.

The trip is made sweeter as I realize that the next time I see my sons we will be in Chicago for Micah’s wedding. I suspect that they will be almost unrecognizable in tuxedos as Joel joins Micah at the front of a chapel, standing up as his best-man. It has made me value this trip even more as I see the curtain fall on one more stage of life, and anticipate raising champagne flutes in a toast allowing a new act to begin.

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