Becoming a Big Kid

Max: Just so you know, I'm a big kid now because I am upstairs and because I have my own desk with my own stuff in it. And Mom, because I am in 2nd grade there are some little kid things I won't like anymore. Don't be sad, you have the memories.


This is what Max imparted to me on the first day of second grade. Being upstairs is clearly a big deal at Christ the King School, along with having your OWN desk with STUFF. But what I love most is that he worried I would be sad as I saw him walk up the stairs. He was right, I was a little sad. Upstairs was a big deal for me, too.

As I watched him haul his backpack up the stairs, walk to his classroom and find his desk, it seemed like yesterday that his tiny little body was laying in an incubator in the Mercy Hospital NICU...all 3.5 pounds of him. At that moment, when all I wanted to do was hold him, the thought of him bounding up the stairs to a second grade classroom might as well have been 40 years away. Yes, I knew he would eventually do that and much more but at that moment it was hard for me to imagine. I wanted to think of my baby as a second grader but the day to day hurdles were consuming me. I prayed every day for him to reach milestones so he could come home. And five weeks after he was born, he did come home. That was 8 years ago.

The memories of those difficult days of taking one step forward and two steps back can still come rushing at me when I least expect it. Especially on his birthday, which just so happens to be today.

Happy 8th birthday, my sweet boy. You have blessed my life in more ways that I could ever have imagined. Your insight and humor amaze me every day. There are wonderful things ahead for you, Max, I just know it.