Now I Have an 11 Year old

My son turns 11 today.

I am kind of in shock still.

I feel like he just turned three a few days ago. He is still my baby. He is my first born kid. When my wife went into labor he was the baby that didn't want to come out. He was supposed to be born on the 25th. He stayed in the womb as long as he could though. He was content there. But ever since he was born, 11 years ago today, he has been an absolute delight. We have our squabbles, as all kids and parents do, but Miles is a damn good kid. He doesn't cause trouble. He is never looking to stir it up. He wants everything to be amicable. He wants everyone included and everyone to be friends. He wants nothing but peace. Miles has never been in any real trouble in school. He is not a disturbance. The only thing I get on him at home about is how messy his room is. Again, he is 11.

This is the kid that made me a dad, and eventually a stay at home dad. I was there for his first steps, first words, first time using the bathroom, his first hit in baseball, his first basket in basketball, his first tackle, I have been there and loved every second of it all. He has an endless wealth of knowledge on the things he loves. You want to know a certain basketball player from the 80's, Miles is your guy. He knows players I don't even know. He has recently gotten heavily into football and his knowledge of the sport knows no bounds already. He is already asking me about guys that came and went when I was his age. He loves music of all kinds. He likes the stuff his friends like, but he will listen to Kendrick Lamar and The Black Keys with me happily. He calls it "old people music", but I can tell he likes some of it. Hell, he has admitted as much. He is a video game fiend. He loves them. From NBA 2k to Pokemon to Mario Odyssey and Paper Mario, the kid is a wizard at those games. I am not good at video games, and when I watch him play I am amazed at how good and how smart he is. He picks up those things so fast. He is an excellent student as well. We just had a parent teacher conference and his teacher was singing his praises. He is fast and should take a little more time on his work, but he knows the answers to all kinds of stuff in his many different subjects. He has been smart from day one. As mentioned above, he plays football, basketball and baseball. He is an okay catcher. We have things to work on, but he readily committed to being a catcher when he was young. He devours all things basketball. He wants to learn the game from the inside out. Basketball is tough, but he is coming along. Football was a revelation this past year. He played flag football before, but this year he played tackle football and he was good. Real good. He likes to tackle and block guys. He likes taking them to the ground. He plays with an edge. I didn't know what to expect when he started playing, but I was hyper impressed with his improvements from day one to his team winning the title in their division.

Most of all, the thing that makes Miles Miles, he is totally 100 percent himself. There is nothing phony about him. He is very happy with the person he is becoming and he is proud of it as well. He is uniquely himself. There is no other Miles out there like our Miles. He is truly one of a kind. The best kind.

I love you buddy. You are growing up too fast, but there is nothing I can do about that. The sun shines and sets with you buddy. Keep being you and keep doing your thing big guy. You rule. Love ya. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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