Happy Fifteenth Birthday to Our Jacob Brian!

Dear Jacob,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Well, here we are – fifteen – the age that you can officially get behind the wheel for the first time.  And you will be getting behind the wheel sooner than later since you’re ready to go take that test to get your learner’s permit!!  You’ve been studying hard, you’ve taken one of the practices tests online, and you passed with flying colors so I would say that you are ready!

This has been the fastest 15 years of my life, and I still can’t believe how incredibly lucky I am to have been able to spend them with you. 

You are truly the best kid – you are funny and kind, dependable and creative, respectful and humble.  You enjoy volunteering, you rarely complain about anything, and you are the exact opposite of the teenage stereotype – moody, withdrawn, disrespectful – you are none of those things.  You genuinely enjoy spending time with Daddy, Olivia, and me and I hope that never changes.

You thrived in your first year of high school, taking a heavy courseload (per your request) of honors and pre-AP courses – Biology Honors, Geometry Honors, Pre-AP Algebra II Honors, Pre-AP Literature and Composition, Pre-AP World History, American Sign Language II Honors, and Religion I – and you made it look so easy, making straight As both semesters. 

In addition to that impressive left brain you have, you are still just as right-brained as ever – your piano playing never ceases to amaze me, you love music and going to concerts, you appreciate art and origami and all the beauty in the world, and you embrace your imagination, especially when you’re spending time with Olivia.  The two of you have started filming and editing movies using stuffies, and the creativity the two of you have together just blows my mind.  Y’all are hilarious and I’m always wondering what you will come up with next.

A typical day at home for you consists of playing video games and/or watching YouTube videos of people playing video games, playing the piano, hanging out with Olivia and getting into whatever the two of you come up with for that day, playing with one of the many speed cubes you have picked up this year, texting with your friends, thumbing through your Lego manuals and your facts books, playing Scrabble (and kicking my butt every time!), and hanging out with Daddy, Olivia, and me watching Friends or America’s Got Talent or whatever else we’re watching at the time.  You’re always down to play a board game or work on a puzzle with me, and I always love that time with you.

You’ve gone through a massive growth spurt this summer, growing at least a couple of inches just since May.  You’ve been eating more than I’ve ever seen you eat in your whole life, and I just know that you’re going to surpass me in height soon.

Your favorite foods are cinnamon muffins, burgers, meatballs, donuts, cinnamon rolls, chicken sandwiches, cheese quesadillas, mac n cheese, pizza, eggs, sausage, key lime pie, anything lemon, and so many other things.  You looooveeee the cinnamon muffins we make at home, and you told me the other day they’re your favorite food ever – even better than donuts, you said!  You love them so much that you’ve started making them on your own so you can have them on hand for breakfast and snacks during the week.

I’ve been getting you in the kitchen a little this summer, and you seem to enjoy it!  You even made your first ever entire meal for us – the beef and parmesan pasta with zucchini that we all love!  Cooking is an important life skill, and I’m determined to send you off into the world knowing at the very least how to make a few basic dishes.

You played golf this past year for high school, but you didn’t get much play time due to the weird schedule, some miscommunication here and there, and the fact that you were a freshman… they don’t have a varsity and a JV team, so the older kids got most of the playtime.  I think that put a damper on your love for golf, so we’ll have to see if you decide to play again this coming school year.  I hope you give it another shot… maybe this year things will be a little more organized!

You also joined the e-sports team at school this past year, and you loved that, too, to no one’s surprise!  Ha!  I think you would play video games all day if we’d allow it, so I’m positive you’ll join e-sports again this year!

You are also considering joining the VOLT team at school this coming year, which is the student outreach leadership team, and I’m looking forward to that.  You truly do enjoy volunteering at outreach, and I hope you know what a difference you’re making for not only our church and school, but our entire community every single time you set foot in there.

Piano is still your greatest extracurricular love, though, and you just started your fifth year!  You’re currently working on Clair de Lune again after taking a break from it, and you’re slowly but surely perfecting those really hard spots that you didn’t quite perfect the first time you studied it.

You also still love Lego and Pokemon, and as I mentioned earlier, you picked up a speed cube (Rubik’s cube) early this year, and with a little help from Mack, you learned how to solve it.  Before we knew it, you were solving it in less than a minute, and I think I’m more impressed with that than anything else.  I had no idea that there were algorithms for solving them, and I still have no idea how you remember all the different algorithms and discern which algorithms to use at any given point when you’re looking at a jumbled-up cube.  It’s mind-blowing.

You love hanging out with WJ, Julian, Alex, and Ethan (your school friends) and also Mack and Buckles and Noah (my friends’ kids).  They’ll all be coming to your party Saturday (except Julian since he’s out of town), and I still just think it’s the best thing ever that my BFF and I have kids who love to hang out.  Your bestie in all the land, though, is still your sister.  I sound like a broken record year after year, but I’m just so grateful for your relationship.  You truly love each other and it’s the best thing ever to see these two humans that we created being the very best of friends.

Speaking of my BFF, Jeannine, she was your Confirmation sponsor this past year when you received the gift of the Holy Spirit… it was a beautiful celebration and you’ve checked yet another milestone off your spiritual checklist.  You’ve now been Baptized, made your First Reconciliation, received your First Holy Communion, and received Confirmation.  That’s four of the seven sacraments! 

A few other random facts:

You do love the teenage slang, and unfortunately, “6-7” is still going strong, much to my dismay.  Haha. 

You hate being hot and you wear shorts year-round. 

You wear the same outfit to church every week – your UGA athletic polo and khaki performance shorts – even though you have plenty of other options.  We call it your church uniform.

You listen to Minecraft instrumental music any time you’re studying or hanging out on your own.

We recently started watching Friends as a family, and you’ve already declared it your favorite show of all time. 

You love math.  You love numbers.  You love doing math for fun.  Your #1 requested birthday gift (besides the $600 Eiffel Tower Lego set) was a Mandelbrot set art piece that you can hang on your wall.  I didn’t even know what a Mandelbrot set was until you informed me.  (It’s a famous fractal defined by a simple math formula that involves complex numbers, and when you zoom in on the shape, you find continually changing patterns.  I still don’t think I’ve quite grasped it.  Haha.)

You love and will ride any thrill ride as long as it doesn’t go upside down.

You cannot be serious for a picture.  You always do your “Chad” face first, and then I have to remind you, “Okay, do a real smile now.”

You make your bed, open your curtains, and open your blinds every single day and I’ve never once told you that you have to do any of that.

You ask me to wake you every single morning during the summer if you’re not up by 8:30 AM.  You’re the only kid I know who doesn’t want to sleep in as late as your body lets you!

You can solve your traditional speed cube in just 19.009 seconds.  INSANE, I KNOW!

This is fifteen!!

Good luck on testing for your learner’s permit in the coming days, Boo!  And happy 15th birthday!  We love you more than you’ll ever know!

Love,

Mommy