Blue-Eyed Baby

“The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you. ” – B.B. King

Our youngest son found out that he got into his college of choice, yesterday. He’ll be attending the same large university that his brothers before him have attended. His brothers have enjoyed their experiences there and grown up and out, in so many remarkable ways. I excitedly anticipate the same for him.

It’s a story for another time, but I really thought that my youngest son was going to be our last baby. That was before we were blessed with our beautiful daughter. I savored my third son’s babyhood because of that reason. I remember rocking him and gazing at him, even more than my other children, mostly because in my mind, he was going to be the last that I experienced all of the baby milestones. I can still picture his little head and hands, as I rocked him to sleep.

My youngest son is my only blue-eyed child. I have brown eyes and my husband has green eyes. Our other three children have brown eyes. Being the third son and always looking up to, and feeling like he had to keep up with his older brothers, I looked for ways to make him feel extra-special and unique. I always made a big fuss of his blue eyes, calling him my “Blue-eyed Baby.” I guess that I took it too far because when he was about four or five years old, he said to me, “I think you are right, Mom. Blue-eyed people are better.” I had to backtrack on that, so I focused on this little birth mark that he has on the back of his dark hair. It is a spot on his hair that is white, looking like it has been intentionally bleached. I’ve always called it his “Angel Kiss.” I told him that the mark on his hair is where the angels kissed him before they gave him to me. I hope that the kissing guardian angels remain all around him when he leaves home to go to college. I want to know that my blue-eyed baby will always be protected no matter how far he roams from home.

“College is a refuge from hasty judgment.” – Robert Frost