Last week you were so excited to get to start going to ballet class.
It just so happened that in the same strip mall as your preschool, there is a dance studio that is offering a trial dance class for your age group.
Needless to say, I knew there weren’t be much of a “trial” to it, because after your first class last week, you made the decision to start taking tap dance lessons once the trial period ends.
As I look at this picture of you in your ballet dress, I can’t help but think of the Elton John song:
Last weekend Mommy and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary by visiting Look Out Winerynear Chattanooga. We arrived a few minutes before they opened, and as we were making our way over to our table, which overlooked the river, we could help but notice an inviting little cat lying there on the ledge.
Mommy and I immediately both thought the same thing:
If Holly were a cat, this would be her.
She wasn’t a kitten. She seemed fully grown. However, she was more of the size of a kitten. She had big blue almond-shaped eyes.
And of course, she was very friendly, inviting, and playful.
When my wife and I were planning our wedding over 12 years ago, we strategically chose July 5th as our wedding date; as it would always conveniently be the day after a major national holiday. In other words, we knew we would always either have the day off work before our anniversary, or like this year, get a 3 day weekend out of the deal.
For the past two weekends now, we have ventured out to local wineries near where we live, nearly an hour south of Nashville, Tennessee.
We have sort of stumbled into this fun summer routine on Saturdays.
So for our 12th wedding anniversary, we drove to the outskirts of Chattanooga, about two hours from where we live, to check out both a local winery as well as a brewery.
First we visited Look Out Winery in Guild, which overlooks the river. It marked the first time we visited a Tennessee winery that was just as much a restaurant.
We loved their pizza!
After lunch, we headed down the highway about ten more miles then drove up another mountain to Top of the Rock Restaurant and Brewery in Jasper, Tennessee.
The view was amazing.
We loved it there so much that my wife already decided that is where she would like to spend her 39th birthday, coming up in about 6 weeks on August 11th.
So here’s to a dozen years of knowing I married the right woman… and to celebrating our 12th wedding anniversary during a global pandemic.
This week has been unexpectedly emotional for me. You’ve been away on vacation in Florida with Nonna and Papa, as well as Aunt Dana and Uncle Andrew, and your cousins.
I didn’t expect to miss you so much. After all, you’re like 9 year and a half years old now. You’re not a little boy anymore.
And that’s exactly why it hit me so hard…
While I couldn’t possibly be prouder of the boy you’ve become, I’ve been coming to terms with the fact that those days of you being a little boy are gone.
For the past 4 days, I have been journaling my thoughts and feelings through a song I have been writing; so that I myself can better understand what I am going through right now.
Today, I was finally able to record the song; one of the few times I was able to do so without crying.
And when I say crying, I mean bawling.
It helped when your Aunt Dana told me today that you are currently taking a break from swimming in the ocean to watch WWE Wrestling.
You don’t treat your stuffed animals like they are real anymore, but you still believe WWE Wrestling is real. I can settle for that. You’re not fully grown up yet.
I love you, Jack.
That boy’s been growing up, that boy’s been growing up on me
He shouldn’t be enough, he shouldn’t be old enough
It doesn’t seem, it doesn’t seem
Those Hot Wheels have all raced away
Like the friends of Thomas the Train
And now I’m missing that boy who went with them
He’s growing up
Those stuffed animals all used to be real
But they’re starting to all disappear
And now my baby boy, first born bundle of joy, is growing up on me
That boy’s a part of me, that boy’s a part of me
My son is growing up
Holding on to memories, never letting go of these
My son is growing up
It takes so much for me to ever cry these days
So it’s funny how these words are drenched in tears
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