Cal turned 28 today and I appreciated his early morning phone call so that I could wish him Happy Birthday first thing. He was walking back to his apartment from the BMV as he had finally made an appointment to get an Illinois' driver's license. He was supposed to get one within thirty days of moving to the windy city, but Cal just couldn't bring himself to do it. His heart was still in Indiana and part of him would always be a Hoosier.
As Cal talked about how horrible the picture on his license looked, I laughed to myself. I didn't think it was funny that he hated his photo. I laughed because I knew that his statement, "I will never show it to anyone" just wasn't true. Cal had the confidence to show people a "terrible" picture of himself and laugh at it with them. Deep down he really didn't care. That was the part that I don't know if everyone understood about him. He didn't spend a lot of time in deep thought. He enjoyed the moment too much. The part of Cal that I knew was obvious to everyone was that he was the most loyal person that most people would ever meet. When you were part of his inner circle, you were there for life. I wasn't surprised that he met friends that were just as loyal as he starting with Jacye in seventh grade leading up to his current group of friends, mostly from IU. It has been fun to watch and to be a small part of it through phone calls and conversations.
So much of Cal's personality reminds me of my own, but I believe that the best part of him came from Doug. Not just the loyalty, but the hard work ethic as well. I have enjoyed hearing about his success at work and am proud that he has embraced life in Chicago to the fullest. I was thankful for the phone call today and am looking forward to celebrating Cal this coming weekend in person. Until then I will appreciate browsing through all the pictures I have saved from his childhood. As much as I loved being a mom then, I think that I enjoy being a mom of adult children even more now.
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