I have to gush.  Today is my son’s eighth birthday and my mom’s seventy-first birthday!

And this week, my son is the Star of the Week in his second grade class.  Being Star of the Week comes with certain perks (like standing at the front of the line this week).  And, parents get to participate too.  Tomorrow, my son is bringing a sealed envelope to class containing a letter that my husband and I have written.  My son’s teacher will read the letter to him, in front of the whole class.

It was easy to write this letter, and it wasn’t.  How much did we want to share?  How much should we keep private?  In the end, though, we decided our letter should really just give Ryan’s classmates a peek at who he is at home.

And because he influences so much of my writing, I’d like to share the letter with my readers:

Dear Ryan,

This is a special week for you!  You are the Star of the Week, and you just turned 8 years old!  

You’re really a special boy.  All you have to do is take a look around your bedroom.  It says so much about you.

Your room is always so neat and organized.  You take very good care of your things.  You’ve got your golf clubs, your LEGOs, your easel, and your toys.

And your walls are full of pictures and posters of things that you’re interested in and curious about.  You’ve got postcards from LACMA showing art work by Diego Rivera, David Hockney, Monet, and other artists.  You’ve got posters about the solar system and the structure of the Earth. You’ve got an awesome photo of Blake Griffin dunking.  There’s a poster showing many of Michael Jackson’s albums.  You’ve got Mario and Luigi on the wall where we used to have the letters of the alphabet.  And you’ve got your signed pictures and letter from President Obama.

You’ve got a full bookcase, and one of our favorite things to do is read with you before bedtime.  We never know what book you’ll pick — a book written by Buzz Aldrin, a Fly Guy book, a book about sharks, a Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, or something else.  And after you’re asleep, we peek on you.  You don’t like to sleep with any blankets so it’s easy for us to see how big you’ve gotten!  You only need to grow 12 inches (one more Subway-footlong) to be as tall as Grandma! 

We are so very proud of you!  Being your Mommy and Daddy is our greatest joy and greatest honor.

We love you a hundred, thousand, million, billion, trillion, gazillion every minute of every day!

Love always,

Mommy and Daddy