Dueling birthdays

The VOICE of Inspiration

By Don Lindsey

April 21^st is a special day for our family because my father and middle son share a birthday. This year my dad will turn 86 and our son will turn 15. While I look forward to the celebration aspect of their day (because who doesn’t love ice cream and cake?), I am also finding that I’m feeling very grateful for having these two gentlemen in my life.

My earliest memories of my dad all involve learning some sort of lesson. He was constantly teaching, pointing things out to me and encouraging me to learn from my mistakes. Sometimes it was school related, and other times it was sports related, but no matter what the topic of conversation was, he wanted to make sure that I was learning as much as possible.

I wish that I could say that I followed all his advice to the letter, but truthfully, I didn’t listen very often and would always end up wishing that I had. I am happy to report now, however, that a lot of what he taught me are things that I apply to being a dad myself. I’ve taken his lessons and fused it together with my mistakes so that my children can both learn from those mistakes and take away my father’s wisdom with them. Having him and my mother living with us now is a wonderful thing and part of that is having the ability to lean on them for advice in the parental department.

When I think of my stepson, I immediately think that time flies by way too quickly. It was a little under 7 years ago that I first met this young man and as soon as I was introduced to him, I was amazed to find out that he has a very investigative mind that is always looking for answers to all kinds of questions. I was also impressed with his desire to be helpful and to make folks happy. I’ve seen him grow up a lot in the last 6 and a half years literally as he is as tall as I am now, but he’s kept that kind soul and the thirst for knowledge that he’s always had.

Whether he’s taking things apart to see how they work or buying me a video game that he thinks I’ll enjoy with his own money, I see the qualities in him that I didn’t have or even understand until I was much older. I cherish our talks on everything from politics to games to pretty much anything. He continues to be one of the most intelligent people I know and I’m very grateful that I get to watch that intelligence cultivate daily.

You would think that having to share a birthday would be a bit of a bummer, but we have a couple of those dueling birthdays and we have a lot of fun with them. On the day that I’m writing this my dad and son have their celebrations going on and while the double cake and ice cream will be awesome, I’ll also be celebrating the gratitude of having these two guys as important pieces of my life.

Don Lindsey is a follower of Christ, son, husband, father, and a survivor. Originally from Dayton Ohio, and resident of Apopka for six years, Don sees his life as a dedication to his wife, parents, children, and community.