Despite his social struggles through elementary school and then middle school (thank you COVID), he is now a thriving high schooler with a tight group of friends. It's an accepting bunch of boys with shared interests...namely...gaming. They are super smart, super silly. Little boys in big boy bodies. Most of them are in advanced placement or honors classes and they are cool in their own right. As one of the mom's of the kids always says, "we didn't get the sports kids..." and I finish the sentence with "...we got the smart kids."
These are the kids we used to call "nerds." The ones that are missed because so much emphasis goes on sports and popularity. I think that's changing a bit though. Time will tell. But to these boys, they are the cool kids. I love that. The popular kids in their minds are kind are conformists... and...super corny. They're smart too but they are also the rule followers, the cheerleaders, the pep-rally-goodie 2 shoes-crop-top-wearing-winter-shorts bearing kids that my son and his friends may never get to know simply because they think they're just too cool for that nonsense. It amuses me that these boys are so smart they've twisted the narrative. I'm hoping that this group will grow up to be the leaders of the world one day because their thoughts are original and so far out of the box they border on genius.
As excited as I am to watch Evan grow up and become his own person, I'm not going to lie, it also gnaws at me because I miss him. I miss being the focal point of his world. I miss the long talks, the story time. I miss a lot. We still read together. We still talk. He still seeks out me or his dad to help him solve a dilemma. We're so lucky to have that. But I miss that undivided time. As a parent you have to keep growing with your kid and know when to step in when you see them go astray. But that whole thing about letting go is real...and it's rough. I do miss my baby.
