Dear Max,
Your skateboarding!
And the really good news is that your ecstatic about it! I've seen more spark over this sport than any other, with the exception of sparring with Clara.
You say you want to play soccer, but we get to the game and you'd rather be throwing a frisbee on the sidelines - I can't blame you - I wouldn't want to be involved in 15 boys ganging up on one soccer ball either!
You say you want to play T-ball, but it's not something you talk about at all once we leave the field.
But skateboarding! You wake up and immediately ask if we can go to the skate park, which has invariably left us with another way I regularly fail you, because I can't take you everyday. I'm OK with this. I'm crystal clear on the fact that I'm mean and don't meet your expectations. Apparently I signed off on some sort of agreement when you were born, that not only would I fetch you juice and snacks all day, I would also take you to the skate park 24/7 once you and your board found each other. That day came on July 3rd, just a few weeks ago. You had been demonstrating excellent balancing skills on rocks and miscellaneous debris so I thought to myself, why not add wheels into the mix? I opened up the garage door - the only thing between me and the skateboard I'd been saving was a pile I fondly call Mount Debris. Demonstrating excellent balancing skills myself, I traversed the pile & located the board. When I presented you with the it, you lit up like Vegas! You held the board at arms length so that you could really take it in. The moment reminded me of when that guy King Arthur pulled excalibur from the stone. You glowed and crooned in a barritone, "OOOOOHHHH YEAAAHHHH".
I nearly fell over in hysterics because who knew? Who knew providing you with a skateboard would connect you with your true Self. Connect you with your barritone "Ooooohhh yeah!". It pleases me greatly - I think I felt more accomplished in that moment than when I met you after a 24 hour unmedicated birth! Because in this world of trying to meet your unstated expectations, I got it right!
So Jennifer, who is Queen of Fun, set us up with a skateboarding teacher so that you and Annan, (Annan loves his board with equal vigour) can have lessons every thursday after we go to the beach all day. Poor you, landing me as a mother! Beach all day, skateboarding all late afternoon...
Ciao baby,
M.
