Dear Zachary,
Happy 11th birthday to my baby. I am so sorry that I’m not home to celebrate. But I know your grandparents and brother and sister will spoil you today. And I promise to make it up to you. Just wait and see😉.
I can’t believe you are in 5th grade. You are doing so well in school, and I am so impressed with your work ethic and your effort. When you make mistakes and are given the chance to make corrections, you always do, even if that means extra homework or raising your grade from a 96% to a 97%. You also have had some cool successes outside of the classroom. You auditioned and made the Treble T’s choral group, and you made the travel basketball team this year. You are also playing lacrosse and flag football. You are hoping to play tackle football in middle school. You enjoy “working out” with dad in the basement and shooting hoops in the driveway with Alex and Izzy. You love to play football at recess with your buddies.
This year we went on trips to Turks and Caicos, UNC and Key West. We spent lots of time this summer at the pool and the beach. You love being in the water and fishing too.
I love you so much, and I’m pretty sure I’m still your favorite person in the world. I don’t know how long that will be the case, but I am relishing every minute. I love the loyalty you have for your whole family. You are the youngest in our family of five, but in some ways you seem like an older brother. You are always looking out for your brother and sister, and you love picking on them too. You are a best friend to Stella and a great big cousin to Scarlett and Chris. You are sweet to your grandparents and aunts and uncles. You can tease like the best of us , and that evil grin and your love for inappropriate jokes always manage to get a laugh. You think you are a teenager and always want to hang with the teenagers in our family and with Alex’s friends. Over Christmas break, Jake and Luke spent the night and nothing made me happier than the midnight nerf battle. There was no doubt that you and Jake were going to beat Luke and Alex 😜.
You still give the best hugs. Now when you hug me, you are almost as tall as me. It won’t be long until I’m officially the shortest person in our family. But you know what I’m going to say next, no matter how tall you are or how many birthdays you have, you will always be my baby.
I love you so very much,
Mom
