Jackson is 13 on October 13th

Just a month after September 11th, with Day on bed-rest for a complication in her pregnancy, Jackson was born, fat and healthy.  I was standing outside the delivery room with his Leary grandparents and got to hear his first cry: all was well! Then Tom walked out with a little bundle in his arms--tears in his eyes, too--to introduce us to Baby Jax.

When I wake up in the morning, I will  be the grandmother of a teenager, Jackson Thomas Leary, my first of four grandchildren: Jackson and 9-year-old Marcus in Virginia, and Nathan, 7, and Elena 2, in Helotes.

One of my favorite memories of Jackson as a little boy was the way he'd start in the morning planning who'd get to read him his bedtime stories.  If you were his pick for the day, he'd say, "You're the winner!" Later, if someone else did something more wonderful than you'd done, he'd switch loyalties and that person would be the winner.

How great it would be to so value your own self that you pronounced those who got to spend time with you the winner of the prize of your presence!  And truthfully, we adults did do a bit of jockeying to win the prize of reading bedtime stories to Jax.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JACKSON!