Special youngster teaches his dad lessons about life

Happy 12th birthday, Austin Scott Keyes!

Actually, his birthday was Aug. 13, but since the Daily Bee doesn't publish on Mondays, here is your Hallmark moment.

Austin has turned out to be a pretty good kid. He rounded up some money by mowing lawns, passing out posters and watching his little sister to pay off half of his bike.

That was the deal, he had to pay half and we had a contract that was even notarized by Bee business manager, Carolyn Inge.

He lived up to his part of the bargain and is now the proud owner of an awesome Sandpoint Sports mountain bike. It's green and has a lock on it.

He also has been known to put our neighbor's newspapers right next to her garage so that Betty Mellon, who is 80 plus, doesn't have to go very far to pick up her papers every day.

He is also doing his very best to keep me young and age me at the same time.

As luck(?) would have it, I received a mountain bike for Father's Day from Sandpoint Sports from Austin and the family. We are now a four-bike family.

Austin and I have already had several great bike trips and more are planned.

He has also convinced me that having a bike is not only liberating, but it is a great way to discover all sorts of mini jumps disguised as curbs, etc.

Having a bike is also a great way to go see the Festival as well as to go get ice cream at Dub's.

The pace of an active 12-year-old is exhausting.

I have tried to keep up with him, but I am having a tough time.

He convinced me that I needed to take a few jumps from the rope swing in Sand Creek. I did.

He has talked me into kicking a soccer ball, shooting hoops, playing catch with a baseball and playing a game of "tennis ball baseball" when I should be finishing up honey-dos around the house, is OK.

More than once we have done all of these in succession.

The honey-dos will wait. Time with my son won't.

I am cherishing this time in our lives because I know that girls and cars are just around the corner. For a few years I get to be the one who parks his car if he gets in trouble, enforce the "no-date" rule and otherwise do my best to protect and educate this special boy from what can sometimes be a challenging world.

Austin is a lucky kid.

He is growing up in an area that has so many recreational opportunities. He sees and spends time with his grandparents, Blaine and Nancy Piatt, almost on a daily basis. He is in an area that is still small enough to care about our youth and yet has exposure to world-class teachers and adult role models.

He has taught me that my days are numbered for trying to keep up with him at Schweitzer.

Austin has also taught me the difference between Nickel Creek and Nickleback.

He has also taught me that KZZU "Modern Hit Music!" plays some OK songs. The station also has interesting ads promoting tattooing, piercing, talking about sexually transmitted diseases, etc. which have actually helped open up some discussions about the above matters.

Austin's first 12 birthdays have flown by and I wouldn't mind finding a pause button for awhile.

I now catch myself peaking ahead in the calendar to figure out that when he graduates in 2013, that really means that we only have seven more birthday parties before he is off to college.

Each life is precious and unique. Each day Austin reminds his mother and me that he is becoming his own person and we are grateful for that.

Happy birthday, Austin! Keep up the good work and don't you dare slow down so that your Dad can keep up.

? David Keyes is publisher of the Daily Bee.