This weekend is our little guy’s “golden” birthday … that rare and exciting day when the date of his birth matches his age. On the 10th of June, he turns 10 years old. On this magical day of all days … we’re actually giving him a 24 hour celebration starting on his Birthday Eve. A few of his best buds are over for a sleepover to start things off.
Then, on birthday morning, the party continues with cinnamon rolls, a morning of more fun times before early afternoon laser tag … and then back to the house for the traditional party with his buds and family who’ll be joining in the festivities. It’ll be interesting to see how the boys fare … will the Energizer bunnies still be running at this same astonishing pace or will they all be exhausted and out of steam? And how about us?
It’s funny, because for a good while, we (Indy and I) were wondering if we had 5 boys in the house — or 50?! Holy Cannoli! Where did I stash those ear plugs? How many of you are jealous to be in our shoes?
… crickets….
Ha ha! Aaaanyway, he’s been growing like a weed and it’s really dawning on us how quickly he’s maturing and changing. It’s such a wild thing seeing your child evolve over time. It’s an honor to be a part of it, to watch him smile, learn, laugh, make progress … it’s debilitating to see him stumble, to see him hurt, to see him feel shame or embarrassment — you know, those big people emotions that can cut deep as you move from childhood to adolescence. Those hard and scary feelings he’ll surely go through as we all did as he makes his way through puberty. He’s in the double-digits now … and the teenage years will be here before we know it.
I know it weighs heavy on both of us as his parents to do our job well … to keep him safe and teach him what he needs to know to survive and thrive in this world. It feels a daunting task when we feel we barely know how to — record scratch — we don’t feel like we know the answers ourselves. We know we have the love thing down. We love him to pieces and he knows it. He knows generosity and knows how to be generous. We love and he knows how to love. And that’s something. It really is.
But, how — when we feel so distracted so often, so pulled in so many directions, so caught up in big-people problems — how do we make sure we are present-minded enough to really equip him for the inevitable storms that will come his way? It feels like such a responsibility. I’m happy to have it, but wow. Here we go. Fasten your seatbelt. Jesus take the wheel. All that jazz. Crazy man, Crazy.