Happy Birthday John Michael!!!

Eleven years ago John Michael was born. He’s an incredible kid and one of the three best nephews in the entire world! He’s all boy but is very loving as well. He plays baseball, football, and basketball. At Christmas Mary asked him what his favorite sport is. His reply: "Whatever is in season." He is also a good student that works hard to do well. I was impressed when I was visiting that he came home from school and began his homework before his ball practice.

This picture from Christmas isn’t the best of him, but is the latest that I have.











Some of my favorite stories about JM:

About 4 or 5 years ago he rode with me to Decatur. I had a plastic box of change beside me so I started to ask him questions and gave him .01 for each correct answer. The questions ranged from sports, to geography, to history, to math, to family, etc. What is the capital of Georgia?, What are the AL teams in baseball?, What is 5+4+2-6? One question was Grandma and K-Daddy have 19 members in their family, what are each of their names for .01 each. He quickly came up with his own family and then Mary’s, then me, then Ann, but he was missing the obvious Grandma and K-Daddy. He was thinking pretty hard about it and finally said, “Jesus.” Gulp, on my part. I told him that yes, Jesus is a part of the family, but I was meaning actual people. He said, “Well, Jesus should be #1. He is in our family.”

When he was about 5 I took him shopping with $10 for his birthday plus about $20 he had saved. He still talks about how he waited and waited since I took the two girls first and let’s just say they could spend a lot of time at Claire’s and the Icing at that time of their life. We went to Toys ‘R Us to get Lincoln Logs and a big water gun he had eyed for awhile. It was a pretty big chore to decide on which set of Lincoln Logs. Finally he decided after making sure he had enough money. Of course, as the aunt I thought if he was short I’d make up the difference, but he asked if he had enough. When I answered affirmatively, he said, “But what about tax? Do I have enough for tax?” Pretty impressive for 5! We took the two items to the checkout counter and he paid for both. I will never forget his expression when he looked at his billfold and saw no money in it! He had walked into the store with a wad of cash and had absolutely none left. “Aunt Rhoda, do you think I could return the water gun?” So we walked to the customer service counter and returned the water gun.

On the ride home we started talking about money. I said how he had the things he had because his parents had been wise with their money and K-Daddy and Grandma had been wise with their money, etc. After a pause from the back seat came this question, “Do you think I’m wise with my money?” Yes, John Michael. I think you made a wise decision to get only one toy today. You can save more money and get the water gun later.

Happy Birthday, John Michael. I love you. 11 Aunt Rhoda kisses on your birthday.