Luke, who blew out 9 candles at the end of January, is a person who's easily pleased. Some kids, leading up to a birthday, wonder aloud what they're going to receive. They anticipate the excitement of the gifts. When the big day arrives, they can hardly wait to open their presents. That's not really Luke. When I asked him what he wanted, he was stumped. His greatest desire was to help cook his own birthday dinner. He poured over a kids' cookbook, settling upon a Chinese stir-fry.

On his birthday then, after an afternoon at a wave pool, he enthusiastically ~ and with great earnestness ~ chopped and diced and stirred and generally enjoyed himself immensely. Never once, that entire day, did he so much as mention presents. Not a material guy, he's all about experience. What a sweetheart.