Happy Birthday to my sweet Major Boy!

Seven always feels like a surreal age for me as a Mom, but with you it feels like you’re starting to finally catch up to the age you are in your heart and mind. You’ve always been my little Old Soul. You had the calmest energy when you were even just a tiny little baby, and as you grow up, I’m realizing that the calmness is actually just grounded-ness. It’s being sure of who you are, centered in yourself, and steady. It’s been so interesting to watch you emerge with a newfound power and energy this past year (you love to wrestle and roughhouse with your buddies, and you never stop dancing and playing!), but I notice that you keep your grounded center always. I hope you never lose that! It’s a quality most people would envy, and it makes me so proud of you. You know exactly who you are, and what you want in this life– and the inherent sweetness in you makes me so hopeful that you reach every last dream.

You’re growing up in leaps and bounds these days. Watching you learn to read so well, and to find joy in the pleasures of curling up with a good book remind me so much of myself at your age. Watching you play soccer outside for literally HOURS on end, and research all the best games that happened decades ago reminds me so much of your Dad at HIS age. Ha! But as much as you take after us in certain ways, you are sublimely yourself. Your quirky and complex sense of humor is your own. Your grace under pressure is your own. Your deep-thinking curiosity is your own. Your desire to experience as much of what life has to offer is so clear, even at the tender age of 7. I always tell people that I know you’ll be the first of my children to leave me and spread your wings, and that thought makes me both infinitely proud and desperately sad.

I’ll always miss you when you’re on your adventures. You’re the absolute best pal a Mom could hope for. You are so fun to talk to and so social. I would take you everywhere with me if I could! Watching you light up the room and make grown-up strangers laugh with delight and surprise makes my heart skip a beat. You are such a little gentleman already. But your showman-esque qualities are balanced out by so much deep emotion under the surface. When I first brought you to see our new house, you cried tears of joy and gratitude, and it moved me so much. When we went to watch Oliver the Musical, I looked over during the emotional crescendo of the story and you were weeping silently– wrapped up in the humanity and tragedy of it all. Always remember that the most powerful thing you can do is to keep feeling everything. Never lose that.

I’m also obsessed with how snuggly and sweet you are. You make me feel so loved every single day. A core memory for me is when you wake up first thing in the morning, and always pad down the hallway from your room with your eyes half open. I can hear that sleepy walk. You find me, either in my bed, or downstairs on the couch, and you snuggle right into the side of me, and put your face in my neck. You’re like the warmest little lap cat. I love that you still let me cuddle and love on you, and that you still want to curl up in my lap to connect. You’re so “big” in so many ways, but thank you for staying little in this one way. It makes my heart so happy.

My biggest wish for your birthday, and for your life, is that you stay true to the magical person you already are. Keep chasing your dreams, keep making people laugh, and keep that perfect mischievous grin. Keep being the kind boy that your teachers tell me about, even when I’m not there to see it. Keep exploring. Keep playing. Keep that gravity deep within you that I envy so much. Most of all, know that Whoever, Wherever, and Whatever you ever are– I will always be the proudest Mom in the world to call you mine. You are the most magical of magical boys, and I adore you. Happy Birthday!

Photographs by Julia Dags | Copyright © 2023 Happily Eva After, Inc. All Rights Reserved.