Hello and welcome to a Sweet 16 Saturday here at the
Wannaskan Almanac. Today is March 26th.
Yes, folks, your favorite Wannaskan Almanac Kid
Writer-in-Residence (WAKWIR) turns sixteen today! Maybe I should start calling
him the WATIR – Wannaskan Almanac Teen Writer-in-Residence. Or perhaps I should
pass the job along to the Fourth Grader who still believes that a dollar a
paragraph pay is a pretty good deal.
If you’re a regular WA reader, you may have noticed that the
current WAKWIR hasn’t been blogging much. His last post in which he shared the
adventures of his 3rd annual camping trip with his dad was in
October. He’s been telling me for a while now that he’s just too busy now to
blog. Not only has he been busy logging driving hours and learning how to drive
a manual transmission (not even The Oldest and Senior 2.0 know how to do this,
so kudos to him), but he’s been really committed to his studies this year. (Who
am I kidding? That’s mom fluff talk right there. He keeps his grades up, but
how “committed” or “studious” he actually is probably up for debate among his
teachers.) This winter, he took on not one, not two, but four extracurricular activities. Uffda.
In order to do it all, I advised (warned) him to keep track of everything on his Google calendar. To my amazement – he did! This just goes to show how much a kid can mature in a year or two. This is the kid who is known in our family for being daydreamy and forgetful. There’s so much imagination in that kid’s brain, if he’s ever gone missing, I only need look in the space between his ears to find him.
To be fair, when the Senior 2.0 was in 9th and 10th
grade, he was the kid known for losing
things. But the WAKWIR was known for forgetting
things. “I forgot” would have been a perfect tattoo on his upper arm. So, it’s
nothing short of amazing that he’s been able to stay on top of his academics
and all of his extracurricular activities, and two state hockey tournament band
trips, and a girlfriend.
Yes, that’s right, too, folks. The WAKWIR is closing in on a
one-year anniversary with his GF.
This is my third
sixteen-year-old, so, what can I say? That it leaves me breathless? That it
seems like they are children forever and then they hurry and grow up so darn
fast it makes me wish I’d done what other mothers do and hung up all of their
school pictures from Kindergarten to present day?
When I was a kid, I remember my father telling me that time
sped up the older a person got. I thought it was crazy talk because my
then-self was agonizing over the minutes and hours it was taking to grow up. Now,
thirty years after my own Sweet 16, here I am with one in college, Senior 2.0
about to graduate, the WAKWIR about to get his driver's license, the Fourth
Grader in the double-digits phase of her life and the baby of the family
demanding equal rights and the same opportunities as his siblings. (This
includes playing Minecraft and getting his turn at “being the boss of
everyone.")
I’m pretty blessed,
though, so I don’t want to sound too whiny about it. Maybe wistful is a better
word. Wistful is how I’m feeling. I find myself thinking about that other
tattoo that could go on any one of my kids’ arms “No regerts.” What are my
regrets?
Life is a mash-up
of experiences. I heard a woman say once, “There’s no such thing as
self-confidence. There’s only doing and learning.” Or – in Yoda’s words, “Do or
do not. There is no try.”
So, on this
sixteenth birthday – at the robotics regionals – I will try. I will try to be
present, both physical and mentally (hey, I know where my son’s gets his
daydreaminess.). I will cheer him on and celebrate this most amazing, curious,
introspective, funny sixteen-year-old I know.
On This Day
Historic Highlights (credits)
Happy Birthday to You!🎶
Remembering You
Kim
Happy Birthday to my fellow twenty-sixther.
ReplyDeleteChairman Joe was only the co-founder of The Raven. WannasksWriter did 95% of the grunt work. I was multo dreamy.
5% sidekick noted. ;)
Delete