Who will he be?

Since the first days of Henry's life (and I am sure the lives of every other baby) there has been constant speculation about who he will grow up to be.  Most of it is cute, silly, and related to whatever action he has most recently learned.  When we first told our families his name there was a lot of "Oh, with a name like that he will be a judge... an author... a politician... a playwright".  His Daddy countered the politician angle with "Maybe you will be an environmentalist and save the planet." When he learned he had hands and was constantly putting them in his own face, we were sure he would be a boxer.  When we saw how big those hands were, we thought maybe he would play the piano. Of course, this has all been in fun.  Yet recently something has happened that has taken this mom on a whole new journey down the road of speculation about who my little boy will be.  About a half dozen times in the last 2 or 3 weeks, in a quiet moment together, Henry has looked me in the eye and I have seen, in those deep blue eyes, who he will be. Now I don't mean what he will do for a job or what kind of interests he will have... I mean who he will be.  Who he is.  I don't know if it's a soul staring back at me for those few seconds, I don't know if it's the spirit of the person he is deep inside but what I do know is that it is beautiful.  In those few seconds before he smiles or giggles or tries to grab my glasses, I can see the 8 year old with muddy hands running in to show me his latest treasure... I can see the 17 year old kissing my cheek before he jumps in the car... I can see the adult that will someday sit across the table from his old mom and talk about the events of the day.  And I know in my heart that in 30 years, I will be able to look into those same deep blue eyes and see my baby.
I wasn't expecting this.  I wasn't prepared for this.  It took my breath away the first time it happened.  But I guess now I have an answer to the question of who my boy will be.  He will be.  He will just be and he will be wonderful at it.