My lovely son’s eighteenth birthday

We had a dinner of Tom’s choice last night to celebrate his eighteenth birthday and then just before bed, minutes into his birthday, I sketched Tom. I promise you the big head is an accident of drawing not a comment on Tom. He was off in the early hours to enjoy a holiday in Amsterdam with his boyfriend Will.
After Tom went to bed I reflected on what a joy he has been and how lucky I am to have him. I also had a giggle looking at the web page Robin made for him when he was about Xavier’s age – including listening to the clip of his high-pitched voice singing ‘The Red Flag’. He was such a thoughtful little character. At great personal suffering he refused to eat any Nestlé sweets because he’d heard on the radio about Nestlé’s aggressive marketing of infant formula milk in the third world. I do so like children with strong opinions.