Happy Birthday, Nick!

Eighteen years ago tomorrow, this little boy came into the world. In this particular picture, he was all dressed up for his first Sunday at church. Who would have thought that this adorable not so little bundle (9lbs., 15 oz), the last of six, would keep us so entertained throughout the years?

What can I tell you about my baby? For starters, I guess I could say that he's not such a baby anymore. At well over six feet, he could end up being the tallest of all of his brothers.

He's also got a very deep voice that he works out when he sings bass.

Most people from Madison Baptist should know when Nick's birthday is because he announced it regularly in church when they asked for birthdays and anniversaries. July or December, he had no problem reminding the congregation that he was born on December 7th. I heard that, even after we left, occasionally someone would still mention his birthdate.

When Nick was little, he kept us, as well as himself, quite entertained. Where some kids have imaginary friends, Nick had a whole imaginary village. He was friends with Bo and Lare. Beth was his girlfriend, and Rufus was the dog.

Nick also spoke in "Nicky Language", something that I think quite irritated his teacher at times. Joel interpreted occasionally, but the language was Nick's invention.

As Nick got older, his imaginary friends faded, but in the past few years some new personalities have taken root. Well, we call them personalities, but Nick quickly corrects us by telling us they're "egos" instead. The difference, if I understand his explanation correctly, is that personalities talk to each other. His egos only talk to other people. For this I guess we should be grateful.

His first ego is Gibby, a cajun from Louisiana, with a pet gator named Nippy. Gibby speaks with a heavy cajun accent (think Swamp People) and often starts a conversation with, "Back in my day ... ". He's a cheerful fellow mostly, and modest too. He often cautions young people to keep their ankles covered.

Not too long after that, Nikolai came into the picture. He speaks with a thick Russian accent, and quite often talks about putting people in front of a firing squad.

We did a pirate theme for Vacation Bible School this past summer, so I shouldn't have been surprised when a pirate ego made an appearance. I believe his name is Captain McScruffy, and he often wants to make people walk the plank. I haven't heard from the pirate recently, but Nick has informed me that ego is mostly seasonal.

This fall I had Nick helping me clean on top of the kitchen cabinets. He happened to find some contraband candy that his dad had stashed up there, and suddenly Hectare came into being. He picked up the candy and gasped, "I found the treasure, just as the legend foretold!" Hectare is soft-spoken and Finnish, although once in awhile his accent sounds Irish or Scottish.

Nick has had a low deep voice since he was little. It was often amusing to listen to him sing during Patch the Pirate Club performances because, while other kids were doing their best to sing the tunes, you could hear this low one-note tone singing jut below all the other voices. Thankfully, Nick's expanded his range beyond that one note, and now he does quite well singing bass in the choir and with his brothers.

Nick blends in well with his brothers as they all tend to be entertaining characters. It's just that Nick brings so many more personalities egos to the mix. Sometimes I do want to ask him, Can we take a direct flight back to reality, or do we have to change planes in Denver?

Still, Nick was the perfect ending to our Boyd bunch, a special group of guys that love life and each other. They make sure they get the most out of life as well. No one would ever describe our family as boring!




At any rate, this baby of the bunch is turning eighteen tomorrow. Happy Birthday, Nick! I love you, and I'm so proud of the man that you're becoming. I love the guy that brings out Gibby when situations get tense, making everyone laugh by saying, "Well that's just hurtful". I smile at the young man who always manages to calm down one of his baby nieces and get them to go to sleep. I'm proud of the guy that makes up whole stories about the adventures of Purple Girl and Pink Girl and Blue Man and keeps his nieces spellbound with his tales. You're funny, special, intelligent and soft hearted and I wouldn't have it any other way. Always remember III John 4, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

By the way, If you guessed "Elf" as the Christmas movie that Monday's quote came from, you were right! Did you find today's quote?