20 years tomorrow, bring back many memories for me. Our younger child, Shawn Tyler was born, October 5th, 1991.
Like those of you with children, either young – or grown, you can’t even hardly remember what your life looked like without them in your life. We are no different. To us – it feels like both Ashlee, now 24 and Shawn – have been with us forever.
But they weren’t. We lived a whole lifetime before we knew them. Hard to imagine it now.
20 years ago we were living in Fortuna, CA where my husband Greg was lead (and only) pastor at a very small church. We lived next door in the church owned parsonage with our 4-year-old daughter, Ashlee.
Both my children are gifts – I did not have the easiest time becoming pregnant – and with Shawn it took 18 months to conceive.
I remember walking around a park nearby to our home and praying for another child. The memory is so clear in my mind – even all these years later.
The Lord said, “yes” and some months later I discovered that I was expecting again. I took the home pregnancy test – it turned light blue and Greg’s first response was this: ”It’s NOT blue enough”! Can you imagine? But indeed it WAS. And I WAS!
Both my pregnancies and deliveries were pretty text-book – I did get to walk around more with Shawn – was in a much more progressive hospital this time around – even though we were in a very small town in northern California.
But Shawn was much bigger than Ashlee’s little 7′-10″ – He was 8′-13 1/2″ and a few inches longer than Ashlee too.
He was late – where Ashlee was right on time. And Shawn has been late for everything since that day – Laid back and peaceful. He has not changed much since he was a child.
I remember holding him after he was born and humming the “Brahms Lullaby” to him. It was a true “bonding moment” that stands frozen in time – in my memory.
Fearful and carefully guarded as a child – he has grown up to be a great listener and warm and compassionate with others. He has an easy peaceful and laid back spirit, makes friends easily and is fun to be around – bringing energy to an entire room.
We knew that Shawn was musical from the time he was a little boy – had incredible pitch even as a child – and adapted well to many instruments – leaning toward the drums and guitar while still quite young. He was also a very good student and athlete – playing both baseball and basketball for several teams – but in the end when he had to make a choice – music won out.
He played lead drums in his church for several years – and now has made a move to Burbank, CA to attend Musician’s Institute in Hollywood – a dream of his – for years now. He is down there living the dream and we couldn’t be happier for him or think of anyone who deserves it more.
Shawn was a normal child and teenager – but always had that invisible “X-Factor” growing up. He made normal mistakes while growing – but learned some valuable lessons about himself, others and the grace of God.
And so I remember with fondness – our almost 20 years with an incredible human being – who is out on his own to follow his dream.
I love you Shawn – Happy Birthday tomorrow to my sweet son 
All my love,
Mom
Related articles
- 30 Things (cindyholman.wordpress.com)
- 24 Years Ago (cindyholman.wordpress.com)
