Dear Miles,

We’re wrapping up the last weeks of summer now, and you’re feeling ready to get back to school. Even though the vaccine doesn’t offer 100% protection, I’m hoping that between it and masking on your part, you’ll have a safe school experience. It seems to be your instinct to hide out in your room all the time, but you’ve been doing some camps and other activities lately, and your mood is remarkably better when you get out and do this. I understand your position. It’s my natural inclination to get hermity too, but I also recognize that forcing myself to be active and socialize is good for my mood and outlook. You don’t have the motivation to prod yourself yet, so I will do my motherly duty by prodding you.

You had a physical recently, and your doctor confirmed what we could guess by looking at you: you’re skinny. She suggested more meat and vegetables after learning about your all-carb diet, and she also gave you the green light for eating ice cream every day. Predictably, the latter recommendation is the one that has stuck, and the whole family gets a kick out of reminding you to take your “prescription.” I doubt a daily bowl of ice cream is going to do much, since your dad says he couldn’t put weight on despite all his efforts when he was a kid, too. I know it is hard to fathom now, but time will catch up to you, and by the time you’re his age, you’ll probably be merely slim as well. Your feet are enormous. I think they grew four shoe sizes last year, so I suspect you still have quite a bit of height left to acquire. I hope your weight can keep up with it. It’s not often that a doctor suggests adding more butter to food, so enjoy it while it lasts.

Luckily for you, this week is FilmScene animation camp, one of your favorite summer activities. It’s not cheap, but you love it, and included in the price is lunch and two snacks every day. The snacks are always movie theater popcorn, and FilmScene has the best popcorn. I was also surprised and pleased to learn that you’ve been enjoying the provided lunch. In previous years, I always had to pack you food to supplement the lunch, since your picky eating style meant you didn’t want much of it. This time, you haven’t touched your backpack snacks. I don’t know if we’ve achieved any kind of breakthrough in your eating habits, but it’s a positive step. We thought it was your last year to be eligible for the camp, but you said today that the teacher said you have one more year you could attend. You were happy to learn that. We’d bandied about the idea of asking if you could be an assistant teacher for younger kids, but I think you’d rather stay a student.

Callum is going to miss you so much when you go to school in a couple of weeks. He’s doing online school for at least part of the year, until he’s vaccinated. You’ve spent so much time together in the last year-plus, and he’s gotten so attached to you. You two have always gotten along well, but he’s so happy when you spend time with him. Lately you’ve been playing Riddle School with him, a computer game you enjoyed when you were younger. He basks in your attention. I dearly hope you don’t get a breakthrough infection that you bring home to him and Tobin. It’s a tough balancing act, and I’m a pretty risk-averse person (the Michael Jackson impersonator was about the only part of Las Vegas I enjoyed). You really need to get back among your friends in a normal-ish school environment, though. Online school went well for all three of you kids, but it was the toughest on you. I hope it doesn’t come down to quarantining you in your bedroom, but if anyone could handle it, it would be you. I could push linguine under the door. The extra butter will help it slide right through the gap.

We’re going on a mini-vacation next week to a lake cottage in northern Illinois, near the Wisconsin border. My ideal vacation would be going to museums all morning (too indoorsy for our group), swimming in the ocean all afternoon (no oceans within a reasonable drive), and eating in a great restaurant at night (definitely no indoor dining for us). That means redefining an ideal vacation, not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good, and finding some fun together. You’re not a big nature-lover, so I’m not sure if the kayaking and hiking will appeal to you, but the rental description promises good wifi. You do enjoy s’mores, so I made sure to get ingredients for those. Maybe you’ll hang out by the fire pit with us for more than six minutes.

I’m not sure exactly what we’re going to do on the trip, but I did find a restaurant nearby with outdoor picnic-style seating. We’ll have to scope it out to see if the spacing is reasonable for our (my) risk assessment, but take-out is an option too. They specialize in hot dogs, fries, and root beer, which sounded good to you. It will also be important to identify a local ice cream shop to make sure you stay sufficiently medicated. I’ve assigned you the task of making a double-batch of Chex Mix, which is your culinary specialty. Mubby taught you to make it, and now you handle our family’s Chex Mix needs when she’s not around. I appreciate it. It’s tasty.

Your current favorites: Goldfish crackers, Honey Nut Cheerios, pasta, lemonade, chatting online and texting with your friends, FilmScene camp, froyo, making “That’s what she said” jokes, saying “You’ll learn in fifth grade health class” to your brothers when they don’t get your “That’s what she said” jokes, and wearing long-sleeved shirts and long pants. You finally opted for a t-shirt and shorts today, which was a wise decision, as it’s ninety degrees and humid out.

It’s not always easy to let you make your own decisions, but I recognize that letting you have more independence is an important part of your development. For the moment, I will still insist that you at least eat some fruit with your dinner. Despite what Homer Simpson says, purple is not a fruit.

Off we go, my sweet Miles. I hope eighth grade treats you well.

Love,

Mom