…this weekend is my 20th High School reunion.

I have no words.

A few weeks ago a friend from Boston emailed me asking about Aidan.  How is he?  We don’t hear much about him, show us some new photos, etc.  Well, Aidan is…Aidan.  Aidan is 9, 9 and three-quarters that is.  He could probably remind me quickly exactly how many days and hours old he is also.  Because that is Aidan.  Aidan is sweet and moody and complex and mature and cuddly and caring and curious and growing and changing and imagining and creating and chillin’.  In other words, Aidan is good.  Thanks for asking.  Aidan also has a way of hiding, hiding behind books, in his world, with his friends, from himself,  and behind his hair and especially away from the camera.  But one evening last week he and I played a bit before the sun went down.

whoa, did you notice the hair??

I have been enjoying this book Eat Pray Love.  I was reading one night last week and came across a paragraph that stopped me.  The author is in an Ashram in India trying to learn to meditate and to know God and she thinks about her nephew while doing so.  To me, she was talking about Aidan.  Not only talking about him, but describing him in a way I have never been able to put the words together.  Because I want to remember these words here,  I quote:

“…is an eight year old boy, skinny for his age, scarily smart, frighteningly astute, sensitive and complex.  Even minutes after his birth, amid all the squalling newborns, he alone was not crying, but looking around with adult, worldly and worried eyes, looking as though he’d done all this before so many times and wasn’t sure how excited he felt about having to do it all again.  This is a child for whom life is never simple, a child who hears and sees and feels everything intensely, a child who can be overcome by emotion so fast sometimes that it unnerves us all.  I love this boy so deeply and protectively.   Sometimes he has troubles sleeping because he cannot still his mind.    …….   He is surrounded by souls who would do anything to help him.  And not only that–he has wisdom and patience of his own, buried deep inside his being, which will only reveal themselves over time and will always carry him through any trial…”
So true.  How comforting to know that he may just have a few kindred spirits out there too.  Love you.