Joe turned 11 years old yesterday, which is unfathomable in so many ways. He's growing up so fast and he does, I am growing older, so it's bittersweet.
I miss the stroller days, when Joe was two years old and JP was six years old. It was an innocent, unblemished time, or so it seems in retrospect. My mom was alive. Carley, of course, was alive and healthy. Carley shared a special bond with Joe, I've always thought. I see so much of her in Joe and JP, too. Those boys loved her fiercely. Still do. It's tough, sometimes, when I stop and think about how much my mom and Carley would have enjoyed watching my boys grow up.
As I think Jude sensed earlier on than I did, it's a little bit harder, as a parent, to watch Joe grow up. With JP, we knew Joe was coming right along behind him, so we would get to do it all over again. It's different with Joe, because he is our youngest. There is no one coming along behind him, so everything he does we are experiencing for the last time. From a nostalgia standpoint, that's tough for me to realize sometimes.
Joe and I share a love of music, especially Tom Petty. He loves Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers like I do, which is saying something. I love to play music for him, particularly music from my past, or present, that he hasn't heard yet. Recently, I stumbled upon a song, "Eyes to the Wind," by War on Drugs, when it appeared on my Spotify Discover playlist one Monday morning. I couldn't stop listening to the song and I played it for Joe. To my delight, a few weeks ago I heard it playing on Alexa, upstairs, one morning as he was getting up to go go school. On his own, he has asked Alexa to play it as his alarm the next day when it was time to get up. That made my so happy.
That's what Joe does for me so often. He makes me smile and laugh. He makes me happy, always.
Joe is like me in many other ways. He's perfectly comfortable being in the spotlight, most of the time. He's a natural leader. Other kids gravitate to him. It's always been that way. He leads on the basketball court, on the baseball field, and on the soccer field. I don't think he sets out to lead his teammates but they look to him, which is the way it is with natural leaders.
Joe's intensely and outwardly competitive, which is something that worried Carley at times because it was hard for her to relate to, I think. I love it, of course, because I have long believed that as a parent, it's possible to channel competitiveness in a positive direction when a kids has it. If a kid is not competitive and doesn't have it - whatever "it" is - it's hard put it in them. At times, we have to dial Joe back a bit but I am okay with that as it relates to competitiveness. Again, it's easier to dial it back than to dial it up, so to speak.
It's been a great year for Joe, I think. Captain of his club soccer team. The leader of his basketball team, as a real glue guy. A leader on his baseball team. A leader at school, on the playground and in the classroom. He's well behaved at school (and at home) and a friend to many, moving easily from group to group.
Jude and I are so lucky to have the boys we have. We're even luckier that they have each other, especially as older parents. JP is such a great big brother to Joe. Joe continues to worship JP and is loyal beyond measure.
Happy Birthday, Joe. I am so proud of you and I love you.
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