To my sweet boy on your last day of middle school,
It seems just yesterday I was enrolling you in TK class at Charlotte Montessori and now I’m enrolling you in classes for high school. It’s so very hard for me to fathom you are officially a high school freshman today. The years have flown by and I can only imagine how fast the next 4 will go before you will be heading off into the world to start your life as a man … creating your own path, making your own way, and carving out your own future.
You have been such a challenge these past few years as you’ve come into your own as a teenager trying to figure the world out in your new body … a body that already towers over me to the point you have to bend down to give me hugs. There have been countless days of attitude, moodiness, and at times, silence as you seek out time for yourself to digest your feelings. I know we don’t always see eye to eye … let’s be real, we typically don’t see eye to eye … but that’s okay, I want you to be your own person, with your own thoughts. It doesn’t mean you’re being disrespectful, it means you’ve got questions and you’re looking for answers. Keep that thought process. Don’t give into peer pressures that may come with high school, maintain your curiosities and let the answers you seek lead you into making the right decisions.
I won’t tell you like my mother told me, that you MUST go to college directly from high school; while I do believe in higher education, I don’t think college is for everyone, especially when you’re uncertain as to what path you want to take while there. Take these 4 years to figure out if you want to go to community college and work a while, if you want to go directly to a big university, or if you want to take some time to travel. Being a single mom, I know I haven’t had the money to take you and your sister around the world as I would have liked, but we’ve managed to make it a few places and I always see the excitement in your eyes while we’re there … go for it, go see more places that excite you while you’re young and carefree.
This is also a big school year for us as it marks the year you go from living with me to living with your dad fulltime, so he can teach you how to be a man. Of course, we will still have the weekends, but that will be quite the transition and I can truthfully say, I miss you dearly already my sweet baby boy. I hope we will create some wonderful summer memories that you can hold on to as we go into this new territory for us in August. That you will always remember the lessons I’ve taught you, that I will always be here for you, and how very much I love you. Congratulations on this day and cheers … with sparkling white grape juice … to the final four.
Love Mom
