Happy Birthday Scott!

5/1/2014

Today, my middle son turns 36!  I can't imagine where all the years have gone, seems just like yesterday that he was a little boy.  Scott is a great man and looks like my Dad, in my opinion.

As a little boy, Scott was fascinated by Christmas lights, and still is.  We have a picture (unfortunately, not digital), of Scott standing on a stool in the driveway stringing his lights around bushes and a small tree.  Also, from an early age he took ten penny nails (big), and hammered them around his bedroom, so that he could hang "garlic" (garland) and lights!  If memory serves me correct, I believe the "garlic" and lights were a year round decoration.  Having holes in the walls didn't bother Jeff and I, partly because it was an old house and they make this magic stuff called putty that covers up holes nicely.

In a nearby town there was a little railroad museum and one or two trains that would travel back and forth for a mile or so.  I believe Scott's lifetime passion for trains may have started with that museum and those train rides.

When we moved to Maryland, Scott had a lot more house to decorate for Christmas.  He was agile and managed to get himself on the roof and decorated the edges of the house, as well as the porch pillars, bushes, front door and any other thing that would look better with lights!  The family joke was that planes would be able to see our house when flying over!  I can't tell you how much I enjoyed driving home from work during the winter and seeing those lights long before I actually got to the house.

Scott joined a train group consisting of all men and Scott, who possibly was in junior high at the time.  He loved the weekly meetings and consequently we began to buy train engines and cars for him.  Scott made a huge track layout on a board and the Christmas tree always sat in the middle of that board, while the train went circling around and around.

We also took Scott and Andy on a train that again if my memory is correct, was an old engine (non-diesel) that gave off a lot of ash.  Of course the soot and ash traveled back to all of the cars.  Scott was very excited so having a bit of ash blowing around us, was a small price to pay for his happiness.

Somewhere along the way, we bought Scott train "bibbers" (blue and white striped) and of course a train hat.  He wore those bibbers long after they really fit him!

I don't remember the circumstances, but somehow Jeff and Scott were able to travel on a privately owned train that made short runs somewhere in Pennsylvania I think.  On that trip, Scott, in his bibbers, was allowed to "drive" the train by himself for a few minutes.  He was in heaven.

Scott is no longer a child and isn't around to decorate our house, but does a beautiful job of lighting up the skies with the lights on his house.  And, that old board with the track, sits underneath the Christmas tree in his house, and yes the train runs constantly underneath!  

My mother-in-law made a picture of a traditional tree (v-shaped) out of jewelry and lights.  She found old pieces of brooches and pins and used them as decorations for the "tree".  My father-in-law put lights on the tree illuminating the beautiful decorations.  That picture hangs in Scott's house today, and I'm thrilled that he clearly loves it and it remains up all year long.

My wish for Scott?  Please don't stop loving the lights and the trains which give you so much joy.  Dad and I have wonderful memories of you taking over the house at Christmas time.  We had a neighbor who was an empty nester and they didn't put up lights, which Scott couldn't understand.  Scott went to them and said he would put lights up on their house, because they didn't have any and they should (yes, they let him put lights on their house)!  That's the kind of boy he was.

Now as a man with his own home, he is a good neighbor to the people who live around him.  Scott has a snow blower and helps out his neighbors by clearing their driveways.  Since Scott learned everything from electrical to gas, he is quite a helpful fellow to have around.  He can and does fix anything.

So Happy Birthday Scott.

Love Mom