From age 2 until age 5, Jack was obsessed with Batman. And when I write obsessed, I mean obsessed. He wore a cape for as many waking hours as we would let him. He strategically placed Batman figurines around our house: in centerpieces, in scenes on the stairs (worse than stepping on a Lego), around his twin baby sisters. “There’s no time to lose!” was a phrase used in play, but also well placed when we were headed to pick up the big girls or go to preschool. He was quite the character.
Today, he is 14. Still a character. Taller than everyone but Joe. Lifting weights with the high school football team. Talking about the car he’d like to buy in two years. Always finding a cute girl at any event and maybe getting her digits. Cracking a joke, making his friends’ shoulders shake during church. Just being a good kid, and I feel like the next kid is racing into his future and the phrase is still appropriate from his preschool years: There’s no time to lose.
As we celebrate him today, appropriately celebrated between the chaos of two other graduations, a sectional track meet this past weekend, and his 8th-grade promotion tonight, I can’t help but think about when he was born, a similarly busy time, just shifted in ages and stages. I remember pushing him in the stroller to the last day of Anna’s kindergarten, thinking how fast the year went. Boy, was I young and naive. Time is flying, and there is absolutely no time to lose. So today, we celebrate our boy. Our dearest Jackson Richard. And we love you so.
Jack,
I am so thankful that you have a strong sense of self and don’t take yourself too seriously. You’re never too old to hug your mama. You’re always ready to make me smile (or roll my eyes) with a joke “you heard from a friend.” You’re a good dude, a kind soul to your animals, and willing to step in as long as we tell you what you’re doing and where you’re going.
Keep your easygoing attitude. Keep working hard. Keep being a good friend. The next few years are going to be different, harder in some areas, more fun in others. Keep being YOU even when it feels like you should maybe change.
I am excited to see you continue to grow big and strong (thank you for constantly flexing enough for me to remember how far you’ve come. Ha!) as well as grow fully into the good human you already are.
However, remember that you’re still my little boy. There are days that I will catch a glimpse of that little boy and might feel a little sad. It’s not because I don’t want you to grow up, it’s just because I find myself wondering why I was in a hurry. I should have listened to you when you were Batman because you were giving me sage advice in your sweet, preschool voice.
We love you, son, more and more every day. We will continue to love you and will celebrate you like there’s no time to lose.
Love,
Mom