My Dearest Sam,
Happy 14th Birthday!
When I look back, I can hardly believe where the time has gone.
I used to live by your nap schedule and count down the hours until I'd make macaroni and cheese and read your favorite dinosaur books. We'd alternate between story time at the library, trucks at the park, goggles and noodles at the pool, sharks at the zoo, and dress-up at the children's museum. In between calling you "Bug-A-Boo," "Peanut Butter and Jelly," "Samuel (saam-well)" and "Love Bug," I used to spend hours doing puzzles, reading books, orchestrating dance parties, mixing colors for finger paint sessions, and building Lego creations.
Then, you got bigger and wanted to read Harry Potter stories on your own, and spend more time hanging with your friends and your cousins. But, we still found lots of ways to have adventures together.
We traveled on airplanes and visited cool cities, family and friends. We rode bikes together. You cheered me on at races. And let me embarrass you in a Turkey costume at school, and honor you by reading at your First Holy Communion.
Bit by bit, you started to grow and grow and grow...
We celebrated our last Mother and Son Bowling Night at Saint Margaret Mary...and I cried when you weren't looking.
I love you so much that I think my heart might burst. You are the brightest, kindest, funniest, most interesting person on the planet. Your ability to judge character while at the same time choosing not to be judgemental is such a rare gift. Between getting up at 5:50am for Advanced Math to competing on a Quiz Bowl team, playing the piano, working toward your Eagle Scout, being the school play's stage manager, and working up your new piece for the Speech team, I stand in awe. You're the real deal in such a compassionate package.
So, as you embark upon the end of middle school, and look toward high school...hear me well...it is not your brains or your brawn that will be the greatest measure of your strength...it will be your ability to get back up again and again when life brings you to your knees. It will also be your choice to bring others up with you, when you (or they) have fallen. It will be your grit. Your determination. Your faith in something greater than the present circumstance.
And when you are tired and unsure, I will be there to remind you of who you are. I will encourage you to stand back up again, and to keep fighting the good fight.
There is so much goodness in this world. And the world is waiting for you to bring your you-ness to it. If there is anything I've learned, it doesn't pay to try to be someone you're not. It's a big fat waste of time. Sink deeply into the person that you're growing into. Embrace Sam Gering. He's such a cool cat--don't just take it from me--I have it on good faith that loads of others think similarly. Know thyself and trust that you (all of you) is enough to manifest the dreams you have inside your heart.
Your dad, sisters, and I think you are incredible, and that you harbor the power to be all that you yearn to be.
Cling to that, and know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you are deeply loved. If I told you daily, it wouldn't be enough.
Ode to you on your 14th birthday, my son. I love you to the moon and back.
Mama
