Oh boy, Miles.

With the possible exception of the month you were born, this feels like the month you’ve been through the most. Because my goal here is not to build suspense and manipulate anyone who reads this, I will say from the start: you are fine. You are doing really well, actually. But this has definitely been quite a month.

You began reentry into quasi-normal life earlier in the summer when you attended a theater camp, but things really picked up speed earlier this month when you did your favorite annual summer activity, Filmscene Animation camp. You did an online version last year, which was fine, but there’s nothing quite like doing a collaborative creative project with like-minded kids. Every day when I picked you up, you were cheerful and excited to talk about your day. It was a complete change from the grumpy, sullen person you’d been lately. You still preferred to close yourself in your room when you get home and spend most of the evening there, but I could tell how good it was for you to get out and see the world in wider perspective.

You made some fun and interesting animations. I loved watching your work on the big screen at your class showcase. It’s available here: https://vimeo.com/icfilmscene. You mostly worked on the short about the penguin (17:00), and I’m probably prejudiced, but I think it’s the best one. My favorite is the quick cuts between closeups of penguin’s eyes and the bean’s eyes. It’s very cinematic.

Before school started, we took a last-minute trip to Long Lake, Illinois, where we rented a cottage and had some low-key fun. We were all grateful for the double batch of Chex Mix you made for the trip, though we could have handled a triple batch. You enjoyed the mini-vacation a lot more than I expected you to. You gave kayaking a try and really enjoyed it. You swam with your brothers at a small beach. You enjoyed the wifi and watching The Simpsons. The biggest surprise was Safari Lake Geneva, which was an attraction a short drive away in which animals roamed freely and guests drove through slowly in their cars. I bought two feed buckets, expecting Tobin and Callum to get a kick out of feeding the animals while you sat. As it turned out, Callum was scared of the ostriches and emus (not without justification), and you were happy to take over his bucket and feed a variety of animals. After we left, you said, “I expected it to be stupid but it was fun.” That’s what many of the reviews said, too, which is why we went.

Inevitably, summer ended. Evitably, you started school in person. The delta variant of COVID is causing all kinds of trouble among our nation’s unvaccinated, including kids like your brothers who are too young to be eligible to be vaccinated. For that reason, those two are continuing with online school, but we decided that your vaccinated status and the generally high rate of mask-wearing among junior high kids made it a reasonable risk. We haven’t had any health scares yet, so for the moment I’m still happy with that decision. You are definitely happy with that decision. Much like after Filmscene camp, you’ve been coming home from school in a good mood, ready to talk about your day over your daily “prescription” of ice cream. You’re playing in the band, spending time with friends new and old, and thus far having a lot less homework than you did last year. You’ve been walking to and from school most days with a group of friends, and having that kind of social interaction has been wonderful for your mood and outlook. Some daily exercise is good for you too, though you don’t like to admit that part.

You’ve also joined a Dungeons & Dragons group hosted by our friend Liam. That’s something you’ve been wanting to try for a long time, so when Liam suggested that he start the group, you and a friend jumped at the opportunity. You’ve had one meeting so far, and it was so much fun that you extended the plan to include another meeting. It’s an interesting and creative pastime, and I’m glad you’re doing it in a supportive environment. On the drive home from the first meeting, you were telling me about a particular situation in which your friend rolled a very high number on the action of kicking the head of a Bullywog, which blasted it into a village far away. You were laughing so hard as you told me the story that you could barely get through it. I didn’t understand all the nuances of the situation, but seeing you so happy and excited about something gave me a smile just as big as yours.

A challenge that has come up this month is the diagnosis of a medical issue. I won’t go into details here, out of respect for your privacy, but anyone reading this should be assured that it’s not life-threatening and it’s treatable. It’s a long-term thing you’ll have to deal with, but we have access to world-renowned medical experts, and we have every reason to believe that things will turn out just fine. I’m sorry you have to handle this on top of everything else that’s going on. The teen years are difficult enough, and then there’s this minor global pandemic, so I wish everything else could be easy. But you seem only mildly annoyed by it right now. That may change when the inconvenience of daily treatment starts to wear on you, but your family has your back.

Your current favorites: hanging out with your friends after school, telling jokes you read on the internet, pasta with tomato sauce (and it’s a very good thing that homemade tomato sauce remains your favorite, because we have an enormous tomato crop this year), your D&D group, and splaying out on your new double bed.

I love the laughter I’ve been hearing from you more often lately, Miles. Your personality has always been on the serious side, and I was afraid that the teen years were going to be one big storm cloud, but there’s still joy in you. I’m so happy to be seeing that side. Even though I wish I could wrap you in bubble wrap with a breathing straw stuck in it, you are giving me more and more evidence that taking some risks is what you need to do to thrive. Sometimes the alpaca steals the food bucket, and sometimes that’s okay, because it’s worth it for the comedy.

Love,

Mom