Zeke is a Teenager!

 

    Even though he outgrew me awhile ago, and now is about 4 inches taller than me, the fact that Zeke is a teenager is still astounding to me.   He has kept his wonder, cheer, curiosity, empathy, creativity, and drive all while aging into a teenager.   There is nothing he doesn't want to do, except ever be bored, because he hates that.   His brain is going 24/7, so he's usually around us asking questions a large number of those hours...and we may or may not have to cut off those questions from time to time.  His curiosity has led him to join choir, drama, indoor soccer, continue outdoor soccer, start drum lessons, join honor band, and get invited to the Mathletics team.  While he likes to keep busy, his joy and kindness remain his strongest attributes.  I had a teacher pull me aside and ask "how do you raise such a kind child?  I have a toddler and will take any tips you have!"  I told her, while I'd like to take all the credit....he really did come out that way.

    During this winter we all got sick with quite a few bugs, Zeke had one in particular that left him extra exhausted.  He was fine except for being lower energy and very subdued...and it had us all very concerned for him.   We all kept asking him if he was ok and he'd say "yeah...I'm just tired" and while we believed him....we weren't *quite* sure... so we'd ask him again...or his sister would ask him, or we'd encourage him that if there was anything he needed to talk about we'd be here for him.  Remember, this is the same guy who hates being bored and if he hasn't found something to do, you can usually hear him entertaining himself by doing something rather obnoxiously noisy.  He was just....sitting around, and none of us were ok with it.   Tyler and I were talking about if we had heard of anything that had happened, if someone had hurt his feelings, or if he was feeling discouraged about something; because never mind that he had had a fever a couple days before and says he is tired, there must be something SERIOUSLY wrong with him because he was just....laying around with a blanket, and seemed a bit melancholy to us.  This literally lasted MAYBE two days and then he was back to his busy, cheerful, happy self and our household went back to normal.   It revealed to me how much his steady joy deeply impacts our family, and how much we may sometimes take him for granted.

        Zeke does get down...literally at the end of every holiday and birthday he is quite sad.  I can't think of a single one where I go to tuck him in at the end of the night where he doesn't say "I don't want it to end".  EVERY.  SINGLE. TIME.   Things that I assume he will be sad about he gets over so quickly, or doesn't really show it much at all.  But a fun, exciting day being OVER?  Well, that's the absolute worst. 

        Zeke's best friend remains Chupacabra...but his love for dogs runs very deep.   I love it.  He has a deep care for all living things, and got upset with me when he saw me flush a stink bug down the toilet instead of tossing it outside, and made me promise to take the time to release them from here on out.  He loves being outside, and recently bought himself a plant to take care of, because then he could bring a little bit of outside into his room.  He feels deeply and it's revealed through his love of nature and I think it's lovely.   

     Everyone I meet who has met Zeke before meeting me, insist I know what a delightful young man he is, and believe me, we know.   My only hope is that he remains being confident in being himself and continue to shine his kindness and joy to others.