Fourteen

Thirteen has been rough. A couple of weeks after Owen entered teen-hood, his brand new bike (and birthday present) was stolen at school. Then his cell phone screen shattered. There was drama with geometry class and Spanish class and even drama in drama class. And there was the looming high school application process complete with essays and interviews and tests (oh my).

But then Owen got a new bike (he paid for part) and a new phone. He went to the World Series and the Nationals won (granted they lost all three games he attended, but still...)! He (mostly) resolved his academic issues, decided he wanted to go to Duke Ellington and really focused on practicing for his audition (which went really well). He went to New York with the drama club and finally saw Phantom of the Opera in person. He got second place in the school science fair and an honorable mention for his National History Day project. He was cast in the spring play.

And then the Pandemic hit.

The play was cancelled. Classes were remote. Climbing was done for. Hanging out with friends was over. He couldn't go to 8th grade prom (though according to Owen, that was a silver lining).

Nevertheless, Owen persisted. He managed to perform both for his Youth Orchestra concert and channeled Odysseus in a new online play. He got into Duke. He graduated from Stuart. He traveled across the country with his cello in hand in order to practice and participate in an online intensive. He learned to make pretzels. He wrote essays on Harry Potter and did online math (as well as a disturbing amount of Brawl Stars). We bubbled with friends so he could go biking, swimming, kayaking and hiking. We bubbled with family so he could swim at the pond, eat lots of corn and ride a zip line. We bubbled with even more family so he could swim in the ocean and fly in the air.

And so while 13 maybe wasn't Owen's greatest year, it certainly has been memorable. Despite all manner of obstacles, Owen's come through a stronger, more mature and empathetic person who we're pretty proud of. Happy birthday, little man. We love you so, so much (and hope that 14 is far less eventful).

1. Bumpy roads lead to beautiful places.
2. You'd be amazed what you can deal with provided you have wifi and a Disney+ subscription.
3. Some longshots are worth it
4. "Respect the tech."
5. Life is all about balance
6. There are no small parts, only small actors. And sometimes, extremely small sets.
7. Sometimes you need to expand your bubble.
8. Diggers are good at dig dig digging, scooping up the earth and building ziplines!
9. You can't chose your family group, but sometimes you get really lucky. 
10. And in the immortal words of J.R.R. Tolkein, It's like in the great stories... The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end… because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing… this shadow. Even darkness must pass.