Freddy,
If I'm being honest, I can't remember the last time I called you that. Very rarely am I getting you prepped to get out of the house when I have to say, "Are you ready, Freddy?" like I did 13 years ago. Those were the days where you spent a majority of your time at Aunty Kari's house, biting Grace and running around the couch. Now you chew on your hoodie drawstrings and run 6:24 miles.
We spent the day in Santa Cruz with your friends. You were looking forward to it for weeks! Emily and Dustin let us borrow their Sprinter van, which you guys loved. The extra room meant that Aksel got to come with us. We woke up early, made the nearly three hour drive down, visited some surf shops where you got some steezy clothes and a new skim board, ate at Pleasure Pizza because that's where Jay worked, then headed to Manresa. You all literally cheered as we pulled into the parking lot because of the waves and the other Sprinter vans in the parking lot. Despite being 55* outside and even colder in the water, you all jumped in without hesitation. You all had to take breaks to warm up before you jumped back in. You wanted to stay until sunset, which we did, and then it was off to Gay Nineties for more pizza. Everyone was exhausted but that felt like a good sign that it was a good day.
I loved watching you with your friends. They're all such good kids and I'm so grateful you have them (Jackson, Bryce, and Liam). Your interactions are hilarious (facts!) and you have to translate often for me as I don't understand the language you all use. You're always off on an adventure with them such as building jumps, fishing in gated communities, riding downtown, going to skate and bike parks, or visiting all of the local McDonald's and using your points to get free food.
Speaking of food, you love food. Daddy has to tell you often to slow down because you inhale your food. You get heartburn from eating your Nachos Bell Grande too quickly, and had an experience last year during baseball umpiring also from Taco Bell. You still eat salami every day for lunch but at least you make your lunches now (most days). You still don't eat cereal with milk but will eat an entire package of graham crackers in one sitting. You watch food videos on YouTube and then crave whatever you watched for weeks. You would drink your ranch if it was socially acceptable and you think the ranch from fast food restaurants tastes better than the Hidden Valley in our fridge. You wish you could eat chicken and we need to get you tested again to see if you're still allergic.
You learned how to swallow pills this year but it took some bribery from Daddy, offering to take you driving. One night, several months ago, on the way home from a fireside, you asked if you could drive in a parking lot. That was a mistake on my end. The first thing you said was, "This is nothing like the video game!" You've been asking to drive ever since. July will be here before we know it! You have grand ideas of the shenanigans you're going to pull once you get your license, and you'd love a van to drive so you can take your bike to the mountains or your boards to the beach. You love driving Emily and Dustin's golf cart at their house and reassure me you know what you're doing as you spin doughnuts in the rocks. You make car noises all day long, which drives Daddy crazy, but you know a lot about cars and continue to learn more. You egg me on to race people in the Explorer and ask me to cut in traffic, which will never happen.
What did happen, though, is you worked so hard towards the end of 8th grade and into high school this year. You even ended up with two As and two Bs at the end of last semester. High school has been a good fit for you, thus far. The teachers seem to understand the mentality of teenagers and take that into account on a variety of levels. Not that they're easy on you, but there doesn't seem to be so much of a focus on perfection like it seemed to be in middle school. Everyone is willing to help and do whatever they can in high school to see you succeed. I hope all four years end up being this good.
You played on the fall baseball team and next week will be try outs for spring. You spent the winter weightlifting with your team and discovered muscles you didn't know you had. You understand you aren't the best player on the team but you think your positive attitude is appreciated by your coaches. You're hesitant to play in the spring, if you make it, because you think you won't have time to ride with your friends. But I reminded you that the days will grow longer and it won't be dark at 5:30 forever. you told me last night that you don't mind missing baseball so much when you're not playing it but when you're around your teammates, it makes you want to play. We'll see how things pan out next week. Unfortunately, you lost one of your teammates suddenly several months ago. It's suspected he passed from a brain aneurysm but I don't know if it was ever confirmed. While you weren't extremely close to him, he did have an impact on you. Your team honored him in several ways and you wear a bracelet everyday in remembrance of him.
You're about 6 feet tall and (I believe) are the tallest youth in our ward, wear a size 12 shoe, prefer your jeans baggy, you enjoy shopping at thrift stores, you still sleep with Lucifer, you always bring a blanket out to the family room with you, you'd sleep with your earbuds in if we'd let you, you also sleep in your jeans, you plan your outfits every night for the following day, you always ask what's for dinner, you go to seminary because we make you, you have a hard time remembering to turn your bedroom fan off and to put your dirty clothes in the hamper, you don't want braces even though the dentist said you should get them, you refuse to shave your mustache, you'd prefer to grow up and be homeless if it meant you could live by the beach, you come up with detailed scenarios like how you were going to catch the person who stole Daddy's bike, you love listening to music, and I can't remember the last time I saw you wear a baseball hat.
As always, do well, be kind, you're amazing, and always try your best. I love you so much!
-Mama
