It's serene to be a preteen (ok, not really, but I needed to rhyme)

Dear G,

I do declare that I’m getting a taste of what it might have been like for my parents to raise me. 

I know I was a bright child, and I also know I had a difficult time regulating emotionally.

Highly sensitive to just about everything. 

That sounds quite a bit like you.

But, G, let me tell you, there is so much good in being bright and emotional, and I see it in you all the time.

I see how you can suck in the sheer fun and joy of moments and flash a smile of wonder. 

Like when we saw the moose in Colorado this summer. 

We had been hoping to see one all day, and even though you were more than ready to get back to the cabin to play video games with your cousins, you were so excited to see that animal foraging in the woods.

When I asked if you were ready to go, you said, “I want to stay here forever.” 

Often you fuss about having to go somewhere or do something, but you frequently remind me after the fact, “You know how I am, Mom. I always end up having a good time.”

You are our family's Tootsie Roll pop. 

You have a crunchy exterior, but a gooey center, and it takes a lot of licks to get to it. 

You have an empathetic heart.

You are so good with babies and young children, and even adults I know have told me how sweet you are to their little ones.

As you turn 11 and enter the pre-teen years, I hope you know how much we love you. 

We love you for your sense of humor; both the things you say and the looks you give, especially when Daddy tells his terrible “dad” jokes.

(That sense of humor--like when you took 29 

goofy pictures on my phone when

 I went to the bathroom at the airport.)

We love you because you’ve got the tightest butt muscles in the history of mankind because you bounce on the exercise ball while playing your video games.

We love it that you’re discovering new music and ask us to download songs that we can not only tolerate but often enjoy ourselves, like This is America by Childish Gambino or Led Zeppelin.

We love it that we can enjoy Marvel and DC movies with you, as well as Ready Player One. 

We love you for the boy you have been and the young man we see you becoming. 

I would say you are the fruit loop in our Cheerios, but we’re all kind of fruity in this family, which means you fit in perfectly.

Hope you have a wonderful 11th year.

Love you to Asgard, Gotham City, and Dormammu’s Dark Dimension and back,

Momma