Where has the time gone?
In many ways, it feels like just yesterday my son, Jareth, was born. Tomorrow (Thursday) he’ll be 8 years old and I find myself both amazed at what a wonderful young person he is and afraid of how quickly the years will continue to slip by. What’ll be even harder, this year, is that I won’t be around for his actual birthday. Instead, I’ll be in Casper at the Wyoming Press Association Winter Convention.
Living in Wyoming, I’ve often joked with people that I remember Jareth’s birthday because it was the day after the Denver Broncos lost (read: threw) the Super Bowl to the Seattle Seahawks. Those who know me, however, know I’m not a sports person. It’s easy to remember my son’s birthday because it was one of the most memorable moments of my life. I still remember sitting next to Telitha, my wife, after she had just given birth and I was in tears at how happy I was.
As I’ve gone year-after-year of being a father, I’ve come to learn that my son can teach me just as much, if not more, than I am teaching him. In a lot of ways, I want to grow up to be just like him.
One thing I can appreciate about Jareth is his willingness to march to the beat of his own drummer. Fortunately, the drummer he marches to appears to have inherited some rhythm from his Uncle Garry rather than his dad. By this age, one might expect a young boy to have grown out of the stage of wanting stuffed animals. Not Jareth, and I’m quite happy about that.
In Jareth’s room he has a collection of stuffed animals ranging from dragons to sloths to lizards and Pokemon. One of his favorites is a colorful stuffed kitten he has named Rainbow. Rainbow is very difficult to find now and, when we found another one, the stuffed kitten was more than $40. Jareth takes Rainbow to bed every night and, sometimes, part of our bedtime ritual is to say goodnight to the stuffed kitten as well as our son.
Sometimes Jareth will break out into dance, whether there’s music playing or not. The immediate parental reaction is to tell him to calm down—which sometimes he needs to—but other times it is just fun to watch whatever moves he comes up with. Thanks to his upbringing, he has a pretty eclectic taste in music. Telitha and I listen to everything ranging from pre-2000s country to 90s alternative to 80s hard rock. Jareth and I have even had “boy’s nights” where I just play different songs on YouTube.
Of course, a favorite in the car is Uncle Garry and Aunt Mirthe, who are musicians and are known as The Bird and the Bear.
What’s been really amazing to watch recently is how Jareth has taken to arts and crafts. For the past few years, he and my father have bonded over “cardboard creations” which have flooded both my parents’ house and mine. Everything from toilet paper rolls to empty snack boxes have been used to create monsters of varying sizes. Jareth provides the artistic direction while my father operates the hot glue gun.
This past year, the two left cardboard creations behind as Jareth began to get into using clay to bring his imagination to life. Just this past weekend, he and my father spent more than a day making dragons out of clay. Jareth brought with him every dragon toy and book he had with him for reference. When Teitha and I arrived to pick him up, he was in the process of creating a three-headed dragon based on King Ghidorah from “Godzilla: King of the Monsters”.
One thing Jareth and I have bonded over has been comic books and video games. I know there’s more than a few people who think the world needs “More tackle boxes and less XBoxes” but I have to disagree. There are some days where there is nothing more fun than building—and sometimes destroying—things in Minecraft on the XBox 360. This, also, allows Jareth to stretch his creative muscles and I’m always amazed at what he will come up with.
I’m more than a little biased, but Jareth has to be one of the coolest 8-year-olds I’ve met and I’m so glad I get to call him my son.
If you see Jareth on Thursday, wish him a happy birthday. And remind him what an amazing young person he is.
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