It’s my Kadey’s birthday today. It’s hard to believe that he is 24 years old. There were times when he was growing up that I wasn’t sure if he would make it. Or I would make it. Or both….

Kade was always an ornery child. He started really young. He was always into everything. He found things to make me crazy. I’m not saying that facetiously. There were times that I thought I might go bat crap crazy.

He got stuck in the clothes dryer one time. I can’t tell you how tempted I was to just leave him in there a while. At least I could relax a while, certain where he was and couldn’t destroy anything.

He made me cry. A lot. I would get so frustrated with him. Then I would feel horrible. He would look at me with his big blue eyes, so serious, and say “What’s wrong Momma?” He truly didn’t know. He was curious and I think that he really just wanted to ‘see’. See what would happen if he cut his sister’s hair off. See what would happen if he put the car into drive while Nana had it started. See what the dog would look like with a mohawk. See what would happen if he shook an entire can of Comet all over the bathroom. See what mom would do if he hid in the closet or the dog house or the barn.When I was frantic and crying and getting ready to warm his butt, he’d say “I was just playing Momma.” To be really honest here, sometimes he got spanked out of pure frustration. I never claimed to be the best mother, sometimes I just lost it. When you can’t find one of your children and you have screamed yourself horse and the little shit comes up and tugs on your shirt with a big grin on his face…Sometimes he got a beating. I have prayed and asked for forgiveness. I am not even sure how necessary that was, God was watching the whole thing.

Then his teenage years hit. His favorite show was Jackass. He and about twenty of his friends formed a group called White Picket Fence. I’m thinking, great! A positive outlet. I thought is he was busy making silly videos, he might stop beating the crap out of people. Not that he was a bully. Kade was never a bully, but he loved to fight. Any reason or excuse. Someone picked on one of his siblings? Oh heck no! Someone said something about one of his friends? It was on. Goodness, that boy loved to fight. And he was GOOD at it. That was the scary thing. I was afraid he would beat someone to death. Maybe this would take the ‘fight’ out of him a bit. Well, it kinda did. In a messed up, sort of self-inflicted pain, sort of way. Oh the things those boys did. For some reason, they all liked to tell me all about it. The boys have always been that way. You don’t tell your mom these things! These were the things you hid from your mother. Not my boys and not their friends.

They told me everything. Or showed me some awful video they had made . My new motto was, ‘Ignorance is bliss’. I would plead with them to not continue with the story or not to show me the latest video. The crap they pulled for these videos. Oh good grief. I will say though, after making dozens of these videos, they did finally get one on GAC, Country Fried Videos and Spike TV. Kade biggest ‘stunt’ was that the guys nailed his lip to a board. Yes, you heard me.. You’d have thought they had made a movie with the Cohen Brothers

Kade always had good friends. I miss them all being at the house. You never knew what they were going to be up to. I just pretended they were really good boys and were probably just our mowing an old lady’s yard or volunteering at the Food Pantry in town. They got into trouble once in a while. Lucky for all of them, I was the Mayor’s Assistant and the Chief of Police and I were good friends. They both got called on a few occasions when a policeman would show up at the door. Nothing serious, just stupid. A lot of stupid.

Kade and Zack always fell asleep cuddling. I have a lot of pictures of those two. Kade and Sam fought a lot. Well, Kade beat him up a lot. Kade and Zack decided to cut their hair in our bathroom. Kade used clippers with no guard on and ended up looking like a skin head. They called my office one time and acted like they were the Newport Police and they were in jail for ‘Tagging’ the McDonald’s with the WPF logo. They ate everything in my house, and destroyed Kade’s room. Kade and Kyler fought all the time and they kept slamming their bedroom door so I took it off of the hinges and they went doorless for about two months. They snuck girls in and I ran them out. They terrorized Kennedy, finally breaking the lock on her door (Tyler Fortune). She ALWAYS locked the door, (Logan Loftis) seemed to have a real knack of walking in on her when she was indecent. I’ve thrown them out, banned them from the house then welcomed them back because I loved all of them so much.

I can’t tell you how much I miss those times. I would go back there in a minute although at the time I wanted to kill them all.

Kade has grown out of most of this. He is the caretaker and worrier of the family. He comes up to the house every Sunday to spend the day with me. He is a hard worker and he makes friends with everyone he meets. He is fiercely protective of his sisters and he loves the bond he has with his brothers. He is so excited about his new nephew. He has the biggest heart and he is the most loyal person I know. He has a girlie we all love. He has huge dreams and I would bet all I have he will make it all happen.

Today is Kade’s day. His new trip around the sun. Today is the day we celebrate him. He is my  Kadey and I am so blessed to have been able to take this funny, stressful, sweet trip with him so far. I’m looking forward to the next 24 years, these ought to be easier, he has quit nailing parts of his body to boards. Happy Birthday, Kade. Momma loves you.

Oh, and you are really curious, you can go to YouTube and search White Picket Fence Videos. Enter at your own rish……