griff time…
Mike’s dad and his wife are in the state for their annual holiday visit, and I’m sick. Typical, huh? Steroids and antibiotics are making me less sick as the days pass, thankfully. We were all supposed to go to Chuck and Stacy’s for a fun day, but instead I stayed home to rest. Mike had Griff stay home with me to make sure that I rested.
And it turned into a really lovely day. I’ve rested and taken my meds. And Griff and I have sat on the sofa and watched a marathon of one of my favorite shows (Buffy). Griff and I spent tons of time alone together when he was little before Eliza was born. Mike was gone a lot working on his doctorate, and it was just me and Griff most of the time. Now that he’s older, we don’t do much together just us. And this day of Cokes and jammies and vampire slayers has been really super.
I know that as he gets older, time alone with him will get more and more rare. And so, for this moment, I am grateful for a day in which he and I got to hang out and just be.
Despite the meds and the cough, I think today has been a really super introduction to twenty-ten.
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a proud mama moment…
In most things, I quickly attribute Griff’s intelligence to Mike. I’m not unaware that Mike’s smarter than I am (at book things). But those tender moments in my budding scientist’s soul are mine. They are me, and I am proud of both him and me.
The following is a poem Griff wrote for class. Not bad, I think, for an 11-year-old boy.
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I walk into the wind.
It pushes me down again and again.
Every time I fall my muscles grow tighter.
Trickles of sand sting my eyes.
Thirst makes me keep walking
I find a drink
but it only keeps me alive.
I do the same for all eternity.
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considering military school…
Seriously. In the last six months, my sweet son has turned into a moody, occasionally aggressive, always annoying little beast of a child. Now, don’t get me wrong, there are times when he is still just precious. He’s smart and insightful, and we have these super conversations. He likes some of the tv I like, and we get to laugh together. He’s still tender with Eliza most of the time, and he’s still quite compassionate.
But there are also these times when I can see that he’s trying to annoy me, trying to get under my skin. I know it’s the hormones, and I know it’s puberty, and I know that some of this is just him growing up. Knowing that doesn’t make me want to smack him any less.
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full of surprises
Just when I think the boys in my life were living solely to annoy me, they go and do something really great. A few weeks ago, Griff and my nephew, Hayden, asked if I would help them make surprise Christmas gifts for their sisters (and for Hayden’s mom and dad). They had it all planned out and were prepared to spend their own money for the project. Now, how sweet is that?
After a fun lunch together at our house today, I took the boys shopping for supplies, and they started their project this afternoon. Now, it’s all misshapen and nowhere near perfect, but it’s amazing anyway. I am quite proud of them. And honored to have been included.
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Happy Birthday, Griffin!!!
It is hard to believe that my baby is turning 11 today. How did that happen? I wore his crocs around the house tonight… and they were too big. In another day or so, I’ll turn around and he’ll be 22. I’ve always said that Griff was kinda born an old man. But the qualities that will make him an amazing man make it really hard to be a kid sometimes. He’s this contradiction of little boy and kindly old soul.
It seems that at this point, I worry about him more than anything. He’s entering middle school next fall, and it’s even harder to be a short, kinda weak little smart boy in middle school than it is in elementary school. I’m spending my summer praying he hits a growth spurt before school starts in August.
He’s going to be going to his third new school in four years thanks to our move to Florida and some rezoning issues, and he’ll have to make new friends again. I hate that for him.
We got the notification in the mail this week that he was accepted into the Accelerated Track for academics in middle school, and I’m not completely sure it’s where I want him. But it’s where he wants to be, and I’m ready to support that choice (of course, Mike, all of Griff’s teachers, and the middle school selection group may not all be wrong here).
I am fearful for him in so many ways. Growing up now is so much more challenging than when I was a kid. And yet, I am hopeful for him is so many other ways. I can hardly wait to see what God has in store for Griff.
And so, happy birthday to my favorite boy. And to think, I wanted a new car. Mike’s the one who wanted a child. He’s always the one with the right idea.
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