Throwback Year 10

In the past week, I’ve been watching baseball playoffs and the World Series.  I’ve missed JT as I watch these games, because watching (and commenting, oh the commentary) was one of our nicest traditions.  In 2010, the year he was in 4th and 5th grade, JT’s baseball interest obsession really took off.

That year, we talked baseball a lot.  We’re a National League family and JT’s teams are the St. Louis Cardinals and the San Francisco Giants.  For Halloween, he was Pablo Sandoval, then a player for the San Francisco Giants and known by the fans as The Panda.

In grades 4 and 5 at the age of 10, he was sometimes silly.

He was often affectionate.

For a brief period he cared about his hair style.

We took a family trip to Alaska and had some summer adventures.

This past summer, as I made all the plans that would send 18 year-old JT off to college, I was so anxious about this change.  I knew that JT was ready but I didn’t know if I was.  There were days when I missed him acutely and he hadn’t yet left.  This fall has been an epiphany of sorts for me.  I’ve missed my boy but have shed few tears (and if you know me you know how rare that is).  I’ve been content and happy as I discover myself as a person again; sometimes it feels like the 18 years of being a full-time mama with a child at home were just an interlude in my life, as I suppose they eventually will be.  I love and miss him but we are both content, busy, and well.  That’s happy!