Happy 14th Bday, T! We have been blessed by another great year with you. This has been your year of Independence. You want to differentiate yourself from your brothers, most notably James. Once he made the basketball team with you, you decided you wanted your own room. The only problem is that we don’t have a room to spare. So, you took it upon yourself to fashion the art closet into your room. Given that there is no ventilation in the room, we figured once January hit you’d go back to your old room. But, you persevered. Then, we were absolutely certain that once the summer heat kicked up you’d bail. Once again, you have remained solo. You have slept in a lot this summer, so apparently the darkness of the room has allowed you to overlook its steaminess. We know it’s hard being a triplet and sharing so much of your life together. Hopefully you don’t forget the benefits and the reality of how much people enjoy being around you.
Speaking of being around people, your friends are your world right now. Whether that is school friends, teammates, or neighborhood friends you like to maximize your opportunities to socialize. One day in the spring you convinced us to let you stay after school for basketball, to take you and your friends to Chipotle, and then to bring you back to school to watch a playoff baseball game. This summer, you bounce from house to house, to the pool, to Harris Teeter, to McDonalds, to Starbucks running and biking around with your friends. A few times it’s been dinner time and we realize we haven’t seen you since mid-morning.
Though you’re focused on your friends, you are still engaged with us at home, you like to linger longer at dinner and talk with Ellie, and you certainly want to make time to hang with Knox. You’re working hard to become his #1. Though you’re too cool to admit your affections for us, you can’t hide how much you adore him. Thanks for encouraging us to bring him home and for introducing his name to us for the 64-name bracket.
You’re quick to let us know your distaste for our rules, particularly around phones and sleepovers. Because these have direct ties to your social life we understand your frustration. Yet, you have been honest and also respectful. We know it is hard and we see God growing you in obedience.
Football, basketball, and track were your sports this year. You were one of the few 7th graders to get to start in football and coach would use you frequently on offense, defense and special teams. In fact, your scoop and score during the first game of the season helped to recalibrate the team after the frustrating Pop-Warner football league the year prior. In basketball, coach entrusted you with handling the ball in key situations. During the AAU tournament your game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer was a highlight for all. In Track, we enjoyed seeing you find your race in the 400m and meeting your goal of sub 60sec. You truly embody Dad’s concept of confident humility. You believe you can achieve great things in sports but you’re not one to draw attention to yourself. May you continue to enjoy big moments and find opportunities to bring glory to your teammates and ultimately to God.
Seventh grade was a sweet spot in school. You’re more seasoned than 6th grade and yet the demands of 8th grade are not yet there. You take school seriously and you benefitted from a less demanding academic year so you could focus on friends and sports. Eighth grade will require more of you academically and we pray for you to find balance, for the wisdom and skill to manage competing demands, and for you to continue striving for excellence in all things.
Love,
Mom and Dad
********************************************************
Jack,
A very special 14th birthday to you! You have really Locked In this year. We see your determination in running, in school work, and in working hard to save money.
You have solidified running as your sport. With cross country in the fall, you slashed your time, gained strength, showed leadership on the team, and helped your team bring home the conference trophy. Along the way you do races (often with Dad) that test your limits on various distances and courses. You and Graham have become good friends that enjoy pushing each other. We greatly admire your perseverance in working on your 3200 PR and enduring a lot of hot races. It’s a joy to watch you. Dad was most proud of the race where you got tripped, picked yourself up and completed a sub-1:30 400m. This year you will be the leader of your team. We love seeing how you have already encouraged and inspired the other runners during summer workouts. Remember that with running and racing some of the best moments come from the races and workouts where you try your hardest even when the clock doesn’t show it. Don’t forget to have fun and enjoy the ride!
This year you have really taken ownership over your school success. You want to work hard and perform well to please yourself and not just us. We enjoy seeing your love of learning and the way you devour books. Eighth grade begins a five-year season of academic challenges. We know you will rise to the tasks before you, but also we pray for you to feel balanced and to keep your identity rooted in Christ. You have received good mentors in William from Deerfoot and Noah at Waypoint who are helping you to make your faith your own and to lean on God’s strength. May you know you are loved by God and by us not because of what you do but simply because of who you are.
Though we aren’t entirely sure what you plan to do with all your money, you are committed to earning and saving. You worked hard joining the soccer reffing league this spring and tried to get as many snack bar shifts as possible this summer. We appreciate how you’re learning the value of hard work and how wisely you steward your resources. Sometimes it’s hard for you to be generous or to feel comfortable spending money on something you want. We enjoy watching you grow in these ways.
Our travel to Zion and the Grand Canyon suits your interests and activity level well. Las Vegas, not so much. Like us, you enjoy finding hard trails and scenic views. Crampons and hail storms were new aspects of the adventure. You like to be our trail leader and you’re hard to tire out.
We are grateful that running with you gives each of us the opportunity to connect with you in meaningful ways. You are a thoughtful, intelligent, and interesting guy. You are a gift we cherish.
Love,
Mom and Dad
********************************************************
Dear James,
Happy 14th!
So glad to celebrate another year of you. The adjective that stands out about you is Maturity. Not only are you the biggest child in the family (will that always be so?!), but you have demonstrated maturity by keeping track of your belongings, getting your homework in on time, taking schoolwork seriously, and even by managing your money and getting a debit card. Relationally, you show maturity when you call us from school to let us know a change of plans and by being trustworthy as you are out with friends for many hours unsupervised.
You have a kind heart. Mom likes to retell how you saved Poppy from sliding off into the Grand Canyon while Dad’s favorite story to highlight is you giving the pregnant lady our umbrella when there was a pop up storm. You do these things on your own, which is a reflection of your compassionate heart. The only time your compassion is lacking is when you’re telling jokes, usually at mom’s expense. You make us laugh with your random quips.
You have enjoyed having Noah join Waypoint as our Youth Director and you seem engaged during Bible study. At Deerfoot, you spent time reading the bible on your own and have started to incorporate that at home as well. We admire your hunger for God and commitment to your faith.
Sports continue to be central to your life. Football has long been a favorite and Coach Nguyen honored you with an award for your character and sportsmanship even as a 7th grader. You don’t always play the positions with all the glory, but you make a big impact by blocking, setting a pick, and rebounding. These are critical positions to learn the power of humble leadership where you work hard for the team’s success. It was a privilege to make the 7th grade basketball team. Dad noted that you routinely tried to use each and every one of your five fouls in games. You play with passion and heart and it was great to end the season with the big Cannon W. You cultivated some new friendships with Jack G and others through your time on the team, and the NC State camp and pick up games this summer have grown them even more. We had thought you might do golf in the spring, but you decided to do track to be with your friends and under Coach Nguyen. Coach mentioned how impressed he was with how quickly you picked up the new form. We are proud of you (and your maturity!) for owning this decision, for trying field events for the first time, and for demonstrating how coachable you are by your significant improvement in shot put. You were also a good fan to your teammates as the meets dragged on for many hours. No conversation on sports would be complete without mentioning your ability to convince us to let you watch so many sports on TV, including every NBA playoff game well into the night. Thankfully, Dad finally found the sport you will not watch…WWE wrestling!
Traveling to Zion and the Grand Canyon were memorable this year…well except for the fact that you were sick in bed for much of Zion.
Knox joined our family and we can always count on you to cover the morning shift and to get him chasing you/finding you in the evenings. He’s a fun dog and we will have a good time as a family watching him grow.
This time next year you will be heading to high school. Enjoy this final year of middle school—play hard, work hard, and have fun.
Love,
Mom and Dad
The Barry Patch 