Happy Birthday Lughead Larry

I DID not forget another Birthday I have just been thinking about this one awhile. Last Friday was my nephew’s birthday. He turned 17. It amazes me that my little nephew Lughead Larry turned 17. I mean it seems like it was yesterday that he was sporting a bowl on the head haircut running around the house with a full diaper waiting for the trash truck.

He has loved construction equipment, trucks and anything with an engine and could crush a house since was in the womb. It might be because his Dad is in construction or it could be because he was pre-destined to be “Bob the Builder”, which by the way was his favorite cartoon when he was little. This is the same kid who would spend hours in my mother’s garden driving his toy trucks through the dirt building his roads and hills and making ditches. He could name every piece of heavy machinery and tell you what it could do before he could read. He could also run any piece of machinery before he could tie his Caterpillar steel-toed construction boots.

I didn’t get to spend a whole lot of time with my nieces and nephew. I was always too many miles away raising my own and there never seems to be enough money or time. They are all almost grown now, what with Lughead being 17, his younger sister not far behind and his older sister no longer in her teens. I hate that I missed those years because they are great people. I did however get regaled with stories either from my mom and dad or my sister when would partake in one of our marathon phone conversations.

The one story about my nephew that stands out most of all was when he was still a little tike. He was telling my dad that he had an accident on the job site. He had two imaginary workers, Andy and Boopy, who he constantly had to move from one job site to the other or tell them where to dig etc. Well it seems that Andy and Boopy were on a job and Boopy cut off his toe. Lughead was beside himself because he was going to have a workerman’s comp claim. (Yeah, this kid was 3 and knew all this stuff) So my dad playing along with him told him that was too bad. Larry came back with the reply that it wasn’t THAT big a deal since Andy was able to “toe-nail” Boopy’s toe back on. Pretty smart kid isn’t he?

Well he is much bigger now and he is still a smart kid. He is also one of the sweetest, kindest best natured young men I know. He takes time out of his busy days of school and working at his dad’s construction company to go by and pick up his 83 year old grandfather and take him to the doughnut shop or out to eat. He goes by and hangs out with his grandparents not because he HAS to but because he wants to. I have to say I really admire him.

Happy Birthday Lughead!