Dear Son :: High School is Here

My oldest son is starting high school this year. For me, the emotions run deep with this. I loved high school, I met my husband, made some great friends and learned a lot about life in those four years. I want my son to have the best experience possible. I also have a lot of emotions that time has gone WAY TOO FAST; 14 years have come and gone and here we are. Here is a letter to him for these coming years:

Dear Micah,

You are in HIGH SCHOOL, I am not sure how that happened so fast, you were just a little squishy baby whose laugh would light up a room. There are a few things I want you to know as you start off on this new journey over the next four years:

1. You are a village kid. You have a lot of people in your corner who have watched you grow up. Reach out to them … whether to talk about football, help with math or to listen to their stories, you have a lot of people outside of your family that really love you.
2. People will be mean, kill them with kindness. Be the nice one, make everyone laugh like you do and bring people together. Of course, if this fails and it gets out of hand, tell someone. Your teachers care about you.
3. Make friends with someone who you “cannot imagine being friends with.” I bet they will challenge you to think outside the box and you will be thankful for your friendship later.
4. Go to ALL THE ACTIVITIES, even though I hate being in the car, I want you to participate, make friends and have memories from these next few years. We will get you there, I promise (go back to that village parenting thing …).
5. You are so special and so loved. On the hardest days, which they will come, remember that you are loved. You are loved by God, you are loved by your parents (and even your little sister, OH how she loves and looks up to you so though she would never ADMIT it) and you add so much light to this world.

We are all learning how to live in this world together, some days are going to be hard and we will all come home exhausted. On those days, I hope we can grab some ice cream out of the freezer and just be.

I love you to the moon & back; you can always make me laugh even when I am super mad and I shouldn’t admit it, but I love that most. You have a way of entertaining the room, you always have others needs in mind and you have always been able to make friends wherever you go. Enjoy these days, Micah. We are here for you, cheering you on and loving you big. Go move mountains!