Happy 10th Birthday Rye!

May 8, 2013  

Dear Rye,

I started a tradition last year of writing you and your brother a letter every year on your birthday. Today you turn 10. I can't believe it. A decade of being your mom! I can't believe how quickly the time has gone by, I love you!

I know that you worry about growing up and that you worry about mom and dad growing older too, but time moving on is all a part of life that you can't change no matter how hard you try.

One of the many things that I will always love about you is that you teach me something almost everyday. I'm supposed to be the one teaching you, but you teach me more than i teach you. One thing that you show me over and over is that taking life too seriously benefits no one. When you face challenges in life I always want you to remember that taking time to laugh and play is a big part of what is important. Mom is not always good about remembering how important this is and the fact that I don't always do this is NOT something I want you to learn from me. Mom is lucky that you and recently other people have reminded me about this, and I'm working on finding more time for fun. Hopefully when you read this letter when you are older I will have made progress on this and you can see that I've always tried to do what's best for you and Wyatt and having fun as much as possible is BEST.

I know that fun for you sometimes is a world outside of reality that includes movies, TV shows, books and games that you love. Sometimes I try to limit the time you spend in the movie and TV world but just for FUN on your 10th birthday I want to tell you about 10 movie and TV characters that you can learn something from. Most of these characters you won't know but take some time to get to know them and learn from them.

1. It's too big a world to be in competition with everyone. The only person who I have to be better than is myself. -Colonel Potter, MASH  

2.  “Don’t ever let somebody tell you… You can’t do something. Not even me. All right? … You got a dream… You gotta protect it. People can’t do somethin’ themselves, they wanna tell you you can’t do it. If you want somethin’, go get it. Period." – Christopher Gardner, The Pursuit of Happiness  

 

3.   "Do or do not. There is no try." - Yoda, The Empire Strikes Back.  

4.  "There's no crying in baseball!"

- Jimmy Dugan,  A League of Their Own (1992)  

5.  "Anything worth having is worth going for- all the way." -J.R. Ewing, Dallas  

 6. "When it comes down to making out, whenever possible, put on side 1 of Led Zeppelin IV."

- MIKE DAMONE in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Only when you are old enough, like 30!)  :)  

7.  "
Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.” - Andy Dufresne, Shawshank Redemption

  

 8.  Reach for the sky! -Woody, Toy Story.  

9.  “Don’t be afraid of it just because it’s new.”  - Babe  

 

10.  Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what your gonna get.  –Forrest Gump  

Happy Birthday! My sweet boy.  Be who you are, have fun, and don’t ever let anybody tell you that you have to be something that you are not.  Be who you want to be, love life, your family and yourself.  Have FUN!

Love,

Mom