An Amazing Nine Years With My Son

Today is an ode to my son. He turned 9 at midnight, and I am still a little in shock by that. I feel like he was just a baby a year or so ago. I remember bringing him home from the hospital, and how scared and unsure and happy I was. I drove my old car at about 40 miles an hour on the highway because I had this tiny human who I helped to create in the back seat. I had this life that me and my wife are now responsible for forever. He is now almost a tween, and it blows my mind.

My son has also changed so much in his short life so far. As a baby he was easy. He was a sound sleeper, a great eater and didn't really cause too much trouble. He would only get upset if he needed a diaper change or if he was hungry. It was pretty simple looking back on it now. When he was a toddler it was more of the same. I got him potty trained without much of a struggle. I started to stay home with him very early on in his toddler days. We made new friends together and we figured all this new stuff out as a dynamic duo. I am still friends with a few other stay at home dads I met during this time as well. And Miles is still friends with their kids. Then as he got to be 5 and 6, he started to get interested in sports, mainly baseball. He is naturally gifted, he seems to have fun playing the game and he still plays to this day. This was when I started to assistant coach so I could watch, and help him grow as a baseball player. He also decided to play basketball. He is good at this too, although we are still working on getting all the rules down. Then he started elementary school, and the person he has become these past three years seems to be who he will be for a good long time now.

He still loves baseball and basketball, but this kid is a gamer. He loves Breath of the Wild and Mario Kart. He will play other Zelda offshoot games. He likes to dip in and out of Smash Bros. He plays the Sonic Olympic game that came out last year. But his choice over all of these, the one game he wants to play, and is really good at, is Fortnite. This kid is a Fortnite monster. He plays it daily, he plays it as soon as he is done with his snack when he gets home from school, and he will spend a good amount of his weekend mornings playing online with his buddies. He adores this game. He talks about it all the time. He brings it up so much that I have to tell him from time to time, no more Fortnite talk for the day. I used to have to tell him to stop talking about other things, but now it is singularly Fortnite. But I love that he is so passionate about this game that he loves. When I was his age, it was all baseball all the time, so I get the passion. I understand it. I don't get the game, I have never played it, but I understand his love for it. I was the same way, just with a different thing.

Outside Fortnite though, Miles is about as easy, and good, as a kid can be. He is a very good student. He is a very lovable and helpful son and grandson and cousin and friend. He is goofy and funny. He likes to horse around. He likes to talk. He has passion. He is becoming a real person, not that he wasn't as a kid, but he is finding his niche in life. I have loved watching him grow up, and will continue to love it as he gets older and older. The way he is handling this pandemic is amazing. He is really taking it in stride. I know I sound like a doting parent, but I am, and when my kid is this easy to love, it is awesome.

Happy birthday Miles Man. I love you and I am excited to celebrate year 9 with you tonight.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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