Sex, drugs, diets, kids & cats. Shit requiring attention, which I 'd rather ignore.
Not Just One thing
Dear Leo,
Today marks a decade of having you in my life. It is hard to remember a time without you. A time before your almond eyed smile. A time before the special snacks you bring me. A time before you showed me what it meant to love and torture your brother in equal measure. A time before each animal represented a possible friend and each object on earth could be treasure. There was a time when I didn’t think a garbage can could be a hat or a belt could be a skirt in and of itself.
But you knew. And you showed me.
You showed me how to dress up and laugh until we cried. You showed me how to jump in giant holes and climb anything that was in your path. You showed me how to take apart things that are broken and make them better than they were before. And even if you don’t know it yet that rebuilding works for people as well as stuff. You showed me that a sharpie could be body paint and wall decor.
You screamed and cried and laughed and loved your way through 10 years of utter Leo-ness. Thank you for bringing me on your ride. I don’t ever want it to end.
Love,
your Mo-ey.
You know how a picture is worth a thousand words…well what is the math on a thousand pictures? I bet you can do that math.
Here are some pictures of you from your first ten years.
You reflect the light.
You dress up.
Thumbs up.
Fourth of July
Epic battle
Late night rave
Flower crown collected on our walk
This guy.
“Let me just see what I can find in the basement”
Teddy bear “love”
Rockies fam
You grunge period
Your whatever is in the box period
Your backwards pants period
You are a brother.
There is never a bad place to eat fruit
Adding blueberries to pancakes
You are a great friend.
at your dad
with you grandma
You love to eat…fruit.
Picking your own blueberries at the cape
Shopping at the farm stand
Stuffing your face with strawberries
C’mon a tomato is a fruit
Raw-berry
Fruit makes you smile.
There is never a bad place to eat fruit
Showing off a fruit tray
In fancy rooms
Even gross fruits like watermelon
You smile.
on boats
while cooking
with two different crocs
at the celtics game
again, on boats
with missing teeth
at your dad
with you grandma
in Italy
while snuggling
at puppies
when weird stuff is happening
with your belly
…even when no one else is smiling
You are goofy.
The time you survived a shark attack
The time your eyes lit up
The time you made yourself a phone
The time you rode in a convetible
The time you filled our kitchen with smoke
The time you had sushi for a tongue
The time you didn’t know the microphone was on
The time you realized your soup was so big
The time you swung from the stairs
The time you climbed the walls
The time you swung through the train
The time you were a gargoyle.
The time you made the lobsters attack
You grunge period
That time you showed the doctor that five year olds DO know what to do with crutches
That time you gave your dad a wet willy
That time you rode on a toilet through home depot
That time you made fresh tomato juice.
The time you golfed in your suit
The time you fell asleep playing wii.
The time you set up an office in the hotel bathroom
the time you jumped so freaking high
the time you brought us rotting horshoe crab
The time you made the best outfit
The time you battled the lobster
The time we lost you you climbed so high
You are wonderful with animals.
the time you brought us rotting horshoe crab
You pose for pictures.
in Italy
on boats
You make many faces
when weird stuff is happening
You grunge period
You have never been just one thing. And to me you are everything.
Published by
Anna Palmer
Anna Rosenblum Palmer is a freelance writer based in Denver, CO. She writes about sex, parenting, cat pee, bi-polar disorder and the NFL; all things inextricably intertwined with her mental health. In her free time she teaches her boys creative swear words, seeks the last missing puzzle piece and thinks deeply about how she is not exercising. Her writing can be found on Babble, Parent.co, Great Moments in Parenting, Ravishly, Good Men Project, Sammiches and Psych Meds, Playpen, Crazy Good Parent, and YourTango. She also does a fair amount of navel gazing on her own blog at annarosenblumpalmer.com.
View all posts by Anna Palmer
Big smiles here.
🙂
Oh my god. I had goose bumps reading through this, and had to finish reading real quick before I started crying.
What a beautiful, beautiful post.
Well thanks! Did you want to see 1,000 pictures of my kid?
Oh man, that kid. I love him so much. These pictures made me weepy.
He loves you too. Particularly because you can make internet happen.
This is so beautiful! The pictures, the words, the love!
Thanks! He makes it easy…