Dear Jack,
Last year in single digits. Phew, that went by pretty quick. For a ornery baby, you sure turned out to be
a dream of a kid. You are easy, and
sometimes the easy kid doesn’t get as much attention. While your brother is thrusting his feet in
my face every night asking to get his feet rubbed, it takes some extra effort to
remember to give things to the kid that doesn’t ask.
This year, without much
explanation, you decided to change your name from Jackson to Jack. While I like the name Jackson (I named you
that after all), I was happy to honor your request for a name change. Coming from the middle kid who goes with the
flow and likes to make people happy, I was glad to see you firm in your stance
on something. You knew what you wanted
and you made it happen.
Last week, I drove you to your
baseball tournament. I knew how much you
were looking forward to it, you missed your last soccer game in order to go. It
was just over an hour away. Only I drove over an hour the wrong way (FYI Eden
and Erwin are not the same). We were now nearly two hours from your game, and
when I told you how sorry I was, you simply said, “That’s ok mom.” You had back to back games so we headed in
the right direction. I turned on your
favorite podcast for the long drive (the least I could do) and heard your upbeat voice from the back, “Thanks
for turning this on, mom!” After being on the road awhile, I informed you that we should make it to the second half of the
first game and your face lit up! “Oh that’s
great, I thought I’d miss the whole thing!”
You had every right to be annoyed with me for my mistake, but you didn’t
make me feel bad, even for a moment. You
are so quick to forgive and you take no joy in other people’s discomfort. I’ll take the lesson you taught me that day
and try to be better myself (also the lesson about double checking GPS).
Last night, you were trying to
decide what your last words as an 8-year-old would be. You couldn’t decide between, “I love you dad”
or “I love you mom” so you said, “I’ll just say, ‘I love you mom and dad.’” If there is a sweeter kid out there, I sure
haven’t met him. I love you, Jack.
Love,
Mom
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