I wake up early.
I mean REALLY early……..
4:45 am each day, even on weekends.
I have the perfect house for an early riser such as myself. The entire east side is covered with huge windows giving me a panoramic view of each sunrise over the Eagle Cap Wilderness.
At times, breathtaking.
The promise of a new day.
A fresh start.
The crack of dawn…..
Enter….. stage left…….Cooper…….
How many mornings did we sit in the living room as the sun would peek over the mountains and my husband, with his slow Oregon drawl, would smugly say to him,
“Listen, Coop…… did you hear that?”
Cooper would then earnestly cock his head to one side straining to hear something….
“It’s the Crack ‘a Dawn”, Steve would slowly and triumphantly declare, as if he’d just told the world’s most hilarious joke.
With a concerned frown, Cooper would look at us and then stare out the window.
After a while, his concerned frown would then change to a smile, he’d shake his head and skip off to once again catch bullfrogs, snakes, or crawdads in the creek.
This went on for years….
Until one day, as a teenager, Cooper admitted that each time my husband would say that, he’d look for a dinosaur.
A DINOSAUR????!?
Now we earnestly cocked our heads to one side straining to understand why on earth he looked for a dinosaur when Steve told him it was the “Crack ‘a Dawn”.
He just smugly looked at us and declared he was looking for a…
you know…….
a Crakadon……..
I’ll never look at a sunrise the same again. 🙂
Have a beautiful morning!
Beth
* This was originally posted in May 2012. I thought I would repost it in honor of Cooper’s sixteenth birthday. And just in case you didn’t get to read it the first time around.
Happy Birthday Coop!!!
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The Renegade Seamstress 
Happy, Happy Birthday Cooper! Wow, 16 years old! Where does the time go? It seems like yesterday that I was at your house snuggling with that little baby! Love him!
I know! Where did the time go??? Yesterday, I was snuggling with another cute baby here at the house 🙂 🙂 🙂
Love those babies!!!
🙂
Such sweet memories.
🙂
That is so cute! Hope you all have a wonderful day today! 🙂 Lisa
Thanks, Lisa!
What a cute story! Thanks for sharing 🙂
You are so welcome, I’m glad you enjoyed it!
What a funny and beautiful story! Many happy mornings to you 🙂
And to you, as well!!
That is GREAT! Isn’t it funny what kids think/imagine. LOVE it…Happy birthday to Cooper.
Thanks, Marlene!
🙂 Sweet story, & aren’t you glad your son has grown up in a place where he can roam in nature!
Happy birthday to Cooper!
Oh, yes, our backyard and on to the creek has been a boys paradise!!! Loads of great memories happened back there!!!
Love the story…reminds me of my son! Sound like you live in a beautiful area….
Thank you, Sue, we do live in paradise!!
Your funny Cooper story reminds me of my daughter Janelle saying that she thought warehouses must be scary places. It took me awhile to figure out she was thinking of “werehouse” as in werewolf.
It’s so amazing how children interpret our words. As a Kindergarten teacher, I get to see that on a daily basis!! So fun!
That was hilarious!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Haha. I love this story! Such a cute memory to have!
Not only was Cooper my surprise baby, but he has really made my life rich with humor and fun!! Life wouldn’t be half as much fun without him!!
Kids are amazing. They stress us out and drive us crazy but one hug, laugh, or I love you makes everything disappear.
Isn’t that the truth!!!
Haha! How cute!! I love that you said he had a slow Oregon drawl. I’ve grown up in Oregon and never realized we had any type of accent until I visited Utah as a teenager and had some other kids my age point it out.
Oh yes! Oregonians have quite an accent! I grew up in Minnesota and they REALLY have a distinctive way of speaking!!
Out of the mouths of babes!!
He was full of them and still is!!
That is hilariously funny! and sweet and just the type of thing that family stories are made up of. I love it! You are an inspiration to me and evidence that we haven’t lost our can do spirit. You remind me of the old adage, ” Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without.” And yet your life is richer for it because you have survival instincts, the character that comes from working through everyday problems skills. Happy Birthday to your son and congratulations to you!
Wow, Teri, such a thoughtful comment! Made me tear up in a good way. Thanks for making my day a little brighter!
So cute Beth. Happy birthday to Cooper! Reminds me of my little ones. When we would have spaghetti for dinner we would ask them if they wanted parmesan cheese. Yeah mommy, we want “parmesh” ON our spaghetti! Throughout their childhood they called it just, “parmesh” Ha Ha!
Parmesh!!! Love it!
How sweet!
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Sometimes, I miss that little boy, but the big Cooper is great, too!!
that is hilarious! Thanks for the story! My boys would have heard it that way too, and I would have been oblivious!
I love how boys think!!!
Not hard to see how he heard those words wrong – aren’t most little boys crazy over dinosaurs?! How cute 🙂
Happy birthday to your son, and to you, Beth – a mom always remembers the first day of their child’s life like no other person on earth can …
Oh, yes, my daughter was thirteen when Cooper was born and now she has a little baby boy of her own. We were sharing memories of the day Coop was born yesterday. So special to share it with her.
Beautiful story. Don’t know how I missed it the first time around. Happy Birthday, Cooper. That photo of him is priceless.
That is one of my favorites, too. This little boy is still inside his new, tall, muscular stature.
So funny! Thanks for sharing such a cute, sweet story and Happy 16th to Cooper!
You are so welcome, Anny. Out of the mouths of babes!!
That’s FANTASTIC!!! Thanks for sharing J
Thanks, Chuck!