To Liam on His 11th Birthday

Liam,

For a while you have been trying to master riding your bike. Considering that all you have to work with was a uneven alleyway behind our house, you had made pretty good progress. And then a couple of weeks ago while I was out of town, you decided that you were going to finally figure it out. And you did. Like in one afternoon. I left town holding on to your handrails and bike seat. And by the time you turned 11, you and I were riding nearly 4 miles together on the Greenway.

You have probably grown more in this past year than in any other since you were brand new. The growth hasn’t been so much in inches and pounds (though there has definitely been growth there), but in your capability in taking on the world around you. That growth has been staggeringly difficult at times this past year. Yet when I think back on where you were last March or at other points along this year, I am amazed at how far you’ve come. You’re not done of course, but none of us are.

One of the ways I have seen you mature in this past year is that you have grown into your big-heartedness. You have always had big feelings, but I have watched you hone those feelings into a desire to help the vulnerable. You want to take care of what is around you whether that is taking care of the earth on the Green Team at school or your humongous love for every animal you encounter or the concern for marginalized people when we talk about what you are learning.

One of my favorite things this past year has been our weekly(ish) DD&D sessions. Just the two of us will go out and get dinner—usually at Waffle House—and talk about faith, Jesus, life, and whatever random thing that is on your mind (and there are a lot of random things on your mind). I love your curiosity and your sure-footed conviction that we need to love other people. I love how you are still pursuing faith even as our church life has been a bumpy. It’s a been a healing balm to my heart and I’m looking forward to your baptism soon. I know it’ll be different but that seems appropriate for you.

What else is there to say about you? You are my 2000s playlist singing buddy. I love how we head off to school in the morning belting “The Middle” or the way you make me restart “Seven Nation Army” if you didn’t get to sing all the words. You are incredibly funny in both straightforward and really weird ways. You make me laugh out loud and give you confused looks in equal measure.

You love mystery stories. You are probably the only 5th grader in 2024 who regularly watches Murder She Wrote. Even more, you unsurprisingly love TV shows about quirky crime solvers like Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Psych. Maybe in your love for solving problems there is something about your persistence in facing challenges.

I am grateful for the fact that, even at 11, you still like to snuggle with your mom and I. You do a great job telling and showing that you love people. I hope that never changes. This is one part of many attempts to tell you how much we love you. We will try to do that every single day. I hope that you never ever forget that you are loved by us, by your family (even your brother), by so many people, and by God. I am so lucky that I get to watch the amazing things that happen when you put your heart and mind to something. I am lucky that I get to be your dad and I love you more than you’ll ever know.

Love,
Papa