Day 74 5.28.20
This year my eldest (and only) son turns ten which seems like a huge milestone for him but also for me as a parent. I have been a parent for a decade!! As a past special education teacher I remember thinking I knew it all and because he was as incredibly smart, empathetic, agile and fun as he was I thought it was all due to my wonderful parenting skills.
He still is all those adjectives and I know we have had an effect on is growth and development but what makes him so amazing is really mostly just him.
In two days he turns 10. June 1st 2010 is his birthday and when I think of Tom I get a warm fuzzy feeling inside. As my first born I remember sitting next to him in amazement as he made endless rows of cars all over our house. He had no fear and would climb up and jump off any structure, rock or boulder we would see on walks. He loved making dust from the dirt on our hikes and at a young age was able to hike incredible distances.
Today, he makes sarcastic and intelligent jokes like his father, making me and everyone around him laugh. He knows he is smart but is modest. He loves a good competition but mostly with himself. He loves reading and soccer, Magic The Gathering and swimming, playing with his sisters and drawing. I hear him act like a parent the same way I do. (its like hearing yourself recorded, for good and for bad). I tell him its not his job but he simply can't help himself.
He is kind and empathetic, cares about the environment, world events and has a naive way about him that believes he can change the world. Honestly, I wouldn't put it past him.
We have started going on evening walks together and long bike rides- mostly because we both have fit bits now (birthday presents) and we need to get our steps in (he keeps challenging me to do more- damn it!). No matter the reason for our alone time together we both have really come to enjoy it and find it precious. It is our time when we can talk about anything from what you should bring with you if a zombie apocalypse was happening right now and you had to leave your home, or politics, or RC race cars, or training for triathlons (mini triathlons), or the smell of Jasmine, the beauty of willow trees or fighting each others shadows in the street lights.
I am so happy to be his mom. I am so enthusiastic about who he was, who he is and who he will be.
Happy Birthday Tom!
