Happy 16th Birthday Levi

Levi with his Great-grandmother "Mamaw"

Today is my oldest son’s birthday. He is 16 years old. He was due on February 28, 1996, and was born on February 29. My entire family, cousins included said, “Leave it up to Kathy to have a leap year baby!”


He is special. He is my firstborn son. The leap year thing just adds to his special status. 

L to R: Billy Haag, Levi Haag, Me, Rusty Haag

Levi Taylor Haag was named for my father’s middle name: Taylor. But my father never met him. He had already passed when Levi was born.


As my firstborn, he is the one that I dedicated back to God after reading in the Old Testament that God wants our first fruits and our first born. He is the one that I read the entire New Testament to when he was a baby because I wanted him to hear the scripture in his spirit. 


He is the child that I learned on. He is the one that I learned about formula and bottles and pampers with. He is the one that we could afford to have pictures of, and the one I foolishly took to the fair while he was still an infant. 


He is the one that I ran to the emergency room when he first climbed and fell and got a bloody nose. The Doctor looked at him, and suggested that we all go home and go to bed.

He has had to grow up the fastest because he is the first born. He had to baby sit his brothers at the ripe old age of ten (under the supervision of helpful neighbors who were like family), so that I could go to work. 

Levi playing guitar in San Antonio; Age 14

At times, these 16 years have gone incredibly slowly; at other times, the years seem to have zoomed by. 


He led his brothers in creating a volcano with mud on a roaster pan in my house. After observing his dad pour carpet fresh on the carpet, he tried to mimic the activity the next morning before we awoke; except that he had climbed up, retrieved the garlic powder instead of the carpet fresh, and poured it all over the brand new living room carpet. I woke up to a house smelling of garlic.


We had to put a hook lock on the refrigerator door when he was small, because he wouldn’t stay out of the refrigerator. At the age of ten, he had fourteen year olds in the neighborhood bringing his bicycles to him for repairs. 

Being the active boy that he has been, he has had stitches and a broken bone. He has shown leadership qualities through questioning and challenging. 

Levi and Me; Age 12ish

Now, he is 6’3”, 230 pounds, and loves cars and girls. (Well, one girl in particular I understand.) 

L to R: Rusty Haag, Billy Haag, Levi Haag, Me

All that he is; all that he will ever become; I will always love and be proud of him. 

Levi with his Dad. Age 15

Happy 16th birthday Levi Taylor Haag. I love you.

copyright 2012 by Kathy Robbins