teen spirit

the obligatory birthday post for a most unassuming fellow. in case you haven't met our second born son, allow me to introduce: charles keats. 

he was born on the ides of march. ironically he is the most loyal of our bunch o' boys. 

and quick witted with a vocabulary that can get him into a wee bit of trouble on occasion

this year marks his entrance into official teenager-hood though he's been climbing the fence or trying for years now. he's an old soul. his flare for walking to the beat of his own drum inspires me. 

aside from the fact he's been a complete trooper when it's come to moving great distances, acclimating to new surroundings, taking one for the team over and over, he's an all around great boy. i'd want to be his friend even if he weren't my kid.

it's our family tradition to hold the 13th birthday in high esteem. a coming of age if you will. on this day, the celebrated chooses an adventure that is reflective of his interest and invites a few men to join along, men who have joined along in his journey to 13. our boy chose wisely. some men who have been with him since birth(or shortly thereafter) all the way up to one he just recently met, his sensational science teacher/soccer coach/cross country coach. 

as i think through the last 365 days, adding up the many changes, subtracting the friends he's left, adding in the ones he's reconnected with and met, dividing up all the hours in his day where he is away from home(so much more than i would like)and multiplying all the ways he has flourished as a future man, i come away with a stunning sum. 

god is faithful to hold this boy when i fail him. god is good to love this boy perfectly when i don't/can't. god is gracious to extend mercy when i am exacting. the one thing i know about this kid is that he is not an extension of his father or his mother-no child is really. he is indeed his own person. and that person is stunning. 

happiest of days to our newly minted teenager. you finally made it. it's official! 

and in case you lost count, i now share living quarters with two teenagers. two! lucky me.

yours ever so sincerely, 

gf xo

twelfth night

it's already been a year since this post.

twelve. he's 12 today. a couple of days ago he wrote a critique on "pandora's box". all by himself. he grabbed the laptop and wrote sentences like:

Pandora's regretfulness was immeasurable. Epimetheus let out a scream of shock and pain. One could easily disagree with how Zeus threw a colossal banquet for one single mortal, and the fact that Epimetheus was so entranced by Pandora was downright unrealistic. But the explicit detail grasps the reader's attention quite nicely. Strangely enough, this ancient myth explains how one person can change the whole world forever. 

i couldn't help but think how he has changed my world forever. 

his study of the ides of march had him taken aback by the betrayal. i love that injustice still surprises him. he's so full of wonder and possibility. he sees the glass as half full. he's so quick to forgive. to laugh off a joke. he's passionate about music and has an artist's eye when it comes to seeing the world. he can read people and situations like a boy much older than his 12 years. he wants to grow up faster than i feel comfortable. he is our pioneer in many ways. testing the boundaries. pushing the envelope. 

openly, he asks hard questions without hesitation. he does not shy away from life. in public settings, he's the first to volunteer to do ANYTHING. never met a stranger, the kind of boy you'd want in your fox hole. 

i am deeply humbled and exhausted from my last 12 years playing the role of his mother in his adaptation of "my life: the charlie utley story".

our boy is 12 today. he's worked feverishly on a presentation on the ides of march that he will give at his tutorial today. even planning the visual aides. the accompanying red velvet cupcakes with mini daggers were his idea. 

i can only hope that his life continues to flourish, that betrayals are kept at bay, that life is always seen as full of wonder and intrigue, that his love for others comes back full fold, that nothing tempers his passion except reason and wisdom and that he will continue to share his winsome merry eyes with a world that is so very lucky. 

happiest of birthday, to our second son, our beloved brother, our truest friend.

xo,

a very proud mama

CKU

I still can't remember why. When I was pregnant with our second child, we decided to find out the gender. We were overjoyed to learn we were expecting another boy-a brother for our first born. We decided to name our second son after my father who was only blessed with daughters. His middle name came from my favorite children's book author, Ezra Jack Keats, who was the first person to depict children of color in picture books. 

Charles Keats was born on March 15, 2001. I will never forget the first time I looked into his merry eyes. He smiled at 2 days old. He came out ready to snuggle-snuggle like it's an olympic sport. 

Mischief is his middle name. He is happy-go-lucky which comes from having a type A older brother and two very unmanageable little brothers. Loyalty is his superpower and faithfulness his artistic talent. He is soulful with a guitar, winsome with a pen, quick to remember the lines of b-rate movie, and can belt out AC/DC. I love this boy who has the heart of a lion and the intuition of an artist. 

He napped as I held his older brother and watched the second plane fly into the World Trade Center. As a 6 year old he jumped from a high tower at the playground and broke his foot. We didn't realize his foot was broken til it had mended on its own. His courage inspires me-recently he solemnly walked to the front of a crowded room of people to belt out the lyrics to Hey Jude-on a whim-as his friends looked on in fear and curiosity. 

I don't always understand him-like when he stows trash in his dresser drawers or hangs on to the minutest piece of broken metal or otherwise discarded cardboard. He sometimes writes a "B" when he means "D". Every once in a while we have to remind him, "Don't turn into bull dog." He is fine wearing the same clothes for 5 days straight-and does. He has a thing for hats. He is on a first name basis with the guy who owns the used record/game store. He delights in peanut butter and jelly-not much of a meat eater and adores celery. Apples make him itchy. He'll choke down anything I make if he knows it will please me. He is known to talk-a  lot especially in the middle of class-and sometimes with a little "hillbilly style" thrown in for laughs. Much to his disgust and embarrassment we lovingly joke that we have betrothed him to a certain southern girl. I believe he is made for greatness. I know all parents think this of their child, but in the case-he really is. Today our sincerely, soulful boy turns 11. He is a delight.