A special day it is for our son Yogi. To be specific, it’s a Happy Birthday day! ‘Twas 15 years ago that he graced this world with his presence, and what a journey he’s had since that beginning. He’s experienced many adventures that most kids of his age have never even dreamed of, one of which is leaving his home country to travel half around the world to a new home, a new life. And, of course, it’s been my joy to have shared this great adventure with him.

His mom and I actually met via the internet. At that time, Yogi was only 5-years-old and I didn’t actually meet him in person until well after his sixth birthday. And, at that, it wasn’t until he was almost 8-years-old that I brought him and Lynndee to the U.S., using Uncle Sam’s fiancé visa program. In that was the beginning of some of our adventures.

Mishap

The first thing that happened was he broke his arm when he and Lynndee made the trip to Manila to visit the U.S. embassy for her interview to receive a fiancé visa. Later that evening, after a successful interview, while in the hotel room, Yogi jumped from one bed to the other, slipped and fell, hitting his arm on the metal bed stand, shattering it all to pieces! After a trip to the emergency room, it was just put in a sling so they could make the return trip to GenSan. On their return home, Yogi had to have surgery on his arm so the bone could be pieced back together, using pins.

It was the following month that I made my next journey on to eastward to get Lynndee and Yogi and bring them to their new home. While there in GenSan, we took Yogi to the hospital to have the pins removed from his arm so there would be no problems going through the metal detector on the trip home.

First International Flight

After our long flight, it was in Atlanta that Lynndee and Yogi first set foot on American soil. And so began Yogi’s life in America.

First Snow

It was just a little over a month later that he saw snow for the very first time, of all times on Christmas Day, experiencing a White Christmas on his first U.S Christmas.

First Birthday in the U.S.

Then it was on his eighth birthday that we first celebrated as a family; Lynndee and I had got married in February. We took him to Chuck E. Cheese’s for his party, which so reminded me of all the birthday party’s I’d ran managing Putt Putt. Since getting them here to the U.S., I’ve made it a point to introduce them to their new country.

Trips

Atlanta has especially become one of our favorite places. Not only did they enter the country here, I’ve took them back several times to see my Braves play baseball and we were actually invited to march on the field in celebration of their final game at Turner Field. That’s certainly every boy’s dream, being on a major league baseball field, though Yogi is a soccer fan.

We’ve also visited Baltimore and Nashville and New York City. We’ve also visited the Civil War battlefield of Antietam in Sharpsburg, Maryland and took a trip to Gatlinburg. So we’ve made many road trips and I’ve been able to introduce them to much history.

Dreams

Since that time, Yogi has adapted to the American way of life. He’s now in high school and already making plans for his post-high-school life. And just like most kids his age, he hasn’t made definite plans. Just recently I’ve heard him speak of being in the military, becoming a meteorologist, being a computer geek while designing new games, becoming a professional soccer player, et cetera, et cetera.

Looking at him reminds me so much of being that age, myself, though that was “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away” (apologies to George Lucas). But today is in the here and now, and we’ll once again celebrate at his favorite eatery, LongHorn Steakhouse, where they have his favorite dish, spicy calamari, which I have taken a fondness to.

So Happy Birthday, Yogi! And next year it’ll be the big 16…how time does fly by.