He’s been ordering off of the adult menu since he was nine, finding the kids menu too limiting for his refined palette. His tastes, humor and empathy are beyond his years. I often ask his opinion when I’m struggling with something at work. He leans into these discussions and no matter how complex my question he always manages to share something insightful.

You are twelve. Things that I don’t think you know, you do. Things that I don’t think you should know, you do. Things that I don’t know, you are teaching me. This table is slowly turning. 

You are twelve. You have the attitude of a teenager and the antics of a boy. You barely acknowledge my morning goodbye’s at the bus stop. You are agreeable and easy going and love filling the role of the class clown, a natural performer. You are confident, clever, kind, temperamental, more feeling than thinking, creative and observant. You are twelve. You are so much more than I could have ever dreamed.