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Friday, February 21, 2014

The One in the Middle


My middle child, Chris, is pretty perfect.

Obviously, I say that in the way of all mothers, who think their preshus leetle snowflakes are the most precious things ever created.
I know he has flaws and I could name them, but I won't.
What I will do, though, is share some of the many things about him that I love and that make him pretty perfect to me.

Chris is interesting. He has gotten to the age where he is developing passions and interests that go beyond the boyhood things like Beyblades and Disney Channel.
Now he is interested in things like History and World War II. Biology and mutations of DNA.
He talks about things like being a history professor or a weapons historian. I didn't even know weapons historians existed. I had to look it up.
He talks about strands of DNA and cellular levels and what can go right or wrong. He talks about DNA research. I nod and think "did I really grow this boy?"

Chris smells good and looks handsome. People who say high school boys (and even middle school boys) stink hasn't met this boy. He dresses nicely, smells good, is athletic, smart and polite. If I had a daughter and he wasn't my son, I would totally be talking this kid up at the dinner table. Is that creepy? ;)

He reads all kinds of stuff. Fiction, non-fiction. Sports and history. His favorite tattered books from his youth (Millions, the baseball series like "Babe and Me" by Dan Gutman, Hatchet etc) will be alongside Band of Brothers and a huge encyclopedia about WWII. He reads Mad magazine and then Sports Illustrated. My personal favorite is that he loves Readers Digest. We get the totally geeky Large Print Readers Digest and the kid reads it. Not only that, but he often learns little things, remembers them, and tells them to me later. He's a handy fellow to keep around if you want to learn the 50 Secrets of Supermarkets! I found this out in the car yesterday.

Chris is persistent. He wants to work at a local snowball stand and has been relentless  persistent in following through with the shop owner for a year now. She may end up hiring him just to make him happy. ;)  He has also applied to another job as well. He talks about saving money and wanting to earn enough to begin to have his own investments. At his age and even a decade older, I didn't even know what an investment was! He gets frustrated and knocked down, but after a very brief sulk, he gets back up and tries again with his trademark positive attitude.

Best of all, he shows his love for his family. He supports his sister, is kind to his brother and loves his parents. He will still hug me in front of his peers, seemingly without batting an eye. He's even up for a nighttime tuck in now and again.

The middle spot can sometimes be a challenging place and I admire the way he handles his position with ease. I love my one in the middle!

1 comment:

Michelle said...

Just getting caught up on my blog reading, so this comment is a little late coming but … Cousin Chris is EXACTLY what I want Nathaniel and Isaiah to grow up into. (…. grow up as? … grow up to be? whatever, I'm not a copy editor anymore, who gives a fig!) Point is, you are not biased, you are correct; your middle is the perfect teenager.