Happy 14th Birthday, Caspian!

Dear Caspian,

Happy 14th birthday to my very favorite son! Here are some things I’d like to remember about you when you turned 14 years old and some things that you might like to know about your 14 year old self…….

1. You love soccer. You are still playing travel soccer and are working really hard at improving your game. You typically play a defensive wing position but are happy playing any position.
2. You are doing cross country again this year. You took a year off last year, but are back doing that with your school on top of club soccer.
3. This summer you did a running club to get back into running and improve your endurance. You ran at 7:30am every Monday, Weds and Friday during the summer. I was very impressed at your commitment to get up early and workout.
4. You love playing video games online with your buddies.
5. You are in 8th grade this year. You are taking 10th grade math and are in the accelerated ELA classes. You are VERY smart!
6. You still don’t love to read. And you don’t like writing much either. So I’d say ELA is your least favorite class and math is probably your favorite.
7. You have lots of friends. You are social and outgoing, but not obnoxious. You have a great group of friends at school and at soccer.
8. You love steak. You could eat tons of it! You also like cheeseburgers, cheese tortellini with cream sauce, ice cream, pickles, beef tacos, brie cheese and ham sandwiches.
9. You love to go find friends in the neighborhood. There are lots of kids your age in the neighborhood so there is generally someone to hang out with if you are feeling social.
10. You have really matured in the last year. You’re good about getting all your things together for school and after school sports. You offer to help me bring things in from the car and put things away without me asking. It’s very sweet.
11. I love hanging out with you. You always make good conversation and are really funny.
12. You got back into Pokemon cards this last year, but unfortunately, I had gotten rid of a lot of the ones that you had when you were younger. We’ve been trying to find more, but the stores are always sold out. I’m always on the lookout!
13. You have grown a lot in this last year! You are now 5′ 4″ which is great! For a long time, you were pretty tiny amongst your friends, but now you are catching up. I can’t imagine how tall you’ll be next year!
14. You still wish you had a brother. Daddy will go out and try to play soccer with you, but he’s not a real sporty guy, so you really wish you had a brother to kick the ball around with outside.
15. You love soccer jerseys. You have quite a collection of them and asked for several rare ones for your birthday.
16. You aren’t interested in a girlfriend right now. You said that you are waiting for high school because they are too much work in junior high.
17. You don’t have big plans for your birthday. You are playing in a soccer tournament on your birthday and then will maybe go out to eat with your family. You seem kind of over the whole party thing and more often than not, choose to be with your family on your birthday.
18. You still don’t like putting your laundry away. It’s always a battle!
19. You rode a ‘real’ rollercoaster a couple months ago (apparently you don’t count Disney rides) and really loved it! You and JoJo had me go on some rides that I don’t think I’ll ever go on again! (too scary for me!).
20. I love that no matter how big you get, you’ll still give me really nice hugs and snuggles. I hope that never ends!

Caspian Finn, you really are such an incredible son. You are kind, fun, social, athletic, smart, funny, passionate, hardworking and so much more. I know I still call you my little buddy even though you are far from little these days. But I just have such a special place for you in my heart and I could not love you more! I hope you have the best year EVER!

I love you from here to the moon and back again!

Love,

Mama