An Open Letter to My Son on His 8th Birthday

Oliver Douglas—

In your 7th year, we wrote a book together (!!!) and we published it (!!!) and all these people from the news were excited to share about it (!!!). Not only did I love working on that project with you, but I also saw how much confidence it brought you. You have stories in you, my dude, and they deserve to be told.

How blessed am I to be the one to help you get them into the world?

As always, you’ve excelled at school. You’ve decided your favorite sports are “none,” which we find hilarious and very you, although I am interested to see if you’ll become a country club sports guy. You’re like me—you like to be cuddled up with a good book. You don’t like people touching and pushing you. Clearly, that is a smart choice because those things—inviting touching and pushing and sweating, quite honestly—make no sense to me, either.

I continue to watch you grow and evolve in new ways—at your own pace, which is not always my pace. That is a lesson in patience for me, quite honestly, but I am proud of us for how we’re learning to communicate with each other fully. We are working out our conflicts respectfully (most of the time) and totally on board with doing this life thing together.

I love that for us.

I can tell you care, that you love to be in our family, and that you feel seen with us. You’re not afraid to ask questions, to push back, or to ask questions. We have the best conversations. And, even when you run ahead of me now, you still wait where I can see you until I catch up. That may be a metaphor for our future.

You’re the best son I could have ever been sent, as handsome and big-brained as ever.

I know this next year has big things in store for us, including making more dreams come true—like Dolly adding your book to the Imagination Library!

Ready to keep dreaming big with your mama, young man?

I love you.

Happy birthday,

Mom