dear sam,

{sam and angelee 2010}

One of my earliest memories is when dad took ben and me to go see you at the hospital. For months previous to May 18th we had been talking about the arrival of "the baby". Mom would explain to us that at first the baby would be small and in the hospital only mommy, daddy and mikey would be able to hold the baby. Ben and I would have to wait until we got to take "the baby" home. Well, the day you were born I sat on mom's hospital bed and she said, "put your arms out". At that point it wasn't a matter of when I got to hold you, it was IF I could hold you. As in, if my arms were strong enough to hold that 10 pound baby boy. You were mine from that moment on. I still consider you mine. (I'm better at sharing you these days though). There were so many times that it seemed like it was just you and me. You changed our family then and you've continued to change our family ever since then...mostly for the better, but I'm not going to lie, there are somethings about you that drive me crazy, but you get away with them because you're sammy. Hope you have a wonderful 25th birthday. I love that you're so kind. I love to hear you laugh. I look for your smirk when you know you've said something inappropriate. I admire your loyalty. I'm impressed by your integrity and I'm very proud of you for doing so well in school. In December you'll be a college graduate and I know that will make you very happy.

with much love,

ang