The building of the hedge began in August of 1983.  He was born the Wednesday of band camp (of course), a beautiful, perfect little boy, slightly early and a tad bit yellow, but a great beginning to the hedge.  We had chosen both a girls name and a boy’s name, but obviously Aaron Douglas won out.  The child, the first grand baby on both sides of the family, was spoiled to death by his grandparents and his aunts.  Band camp staff attended his first four birthdays, along with a few friends and all attention was on him.  That is, until September of 1987.

The hedge continued with the addition of another boy, 6 weeks early, tiny, bruised and with a broken collarbone from birth, transferred quickly to a hospital 40 miles away.  Again we had chosen both boys and girls names, but David Kendall burst upon the scene slightly after midnight, beating the anesthesiologist to the room.  This addition to the hedge stayed in the hospital for all of those 6 weeks, coming home in November, about the time he should have arrived.  I’m not sure he was well received by his older brother, the one who had had all of the attention for a while, and this new little one for sure needed some attention.  I’m pleased to say he has grown up to be a funny, creative, highly intelligent young man, but he certainly kept us, and continues to keep us on our toes.

We thought the hedge was finished when a third member of the hedge surprised us in 1990.  Arriving 7 weeks early, but in much better shape than his older brother, we should have known we were going to be in trouble when even as a preemie he would “fight” the nurses and cry whenever they arrived at his bassinet.  Jacob Tyler rounded out and completed the hedge.  Known as the Bush Boyz by family, friends and band members, these guys had fun, occasionally got hurt and more than occasionally got themselves into trouble.  They fought and argued but woe be to anyone from the outside who tried to mess with one of them.

Our home was full of action figures with little pieces to step on, video games, and nerf guns.  They did things like pile every pillow in the house at the bottom of the stairs against the front door and take turns sliding down on the top of their toy box, slamming into the pillows, laughing like crazy before running back up the stairs.  They ran around the house in their underwear until I would make them get dressed, and their wardrobe consisted mostly of jeans, shorts and graphic t-shirts.  Not a bit of pink or purple to be seen, and many days I felt like a frat mom, especially when they all hit the teen years.

After 27 years of raising three boys, the thoughts turn occasionally to grandchildren.  THIS was where I would finally get to buy all the girly things I ever wanted to buy, and spoil her like crazy.  I made my mother a grandmother at the tender age of 45 but it wouldn’t be until I was 58 that I would be a grandma, but not to a frilly little girl.  No, we were destined to add to the hedge with an awesome 10 year old, red haired, freckle faced, talk a mile a minute, loves to read everything in sight BOY.  Sterling James joined the hedge last July and just today, his cutie patootie little brother Payton Ryker joined him.

I watched them this afternoon in front of a local restaurant after the adoption as they sat in the bushes outside saying “Hey look!  We’re the Bushes in the bushes!”.  They’re proud to be a part of this family and I’m proud of my son and daughter-in-love for opening their home and hearts to them.  It’s amazing how quickly you can fall in love with a child you didn’t know a year or two ago.  And despite the fact that again I have boys, it’s very familiar territory, with the occasional brotherly argument, as they play with action figures, video games and nerf guns.  The hedge continues to be built and we’ll just have to wait to see what happens next.