Brodie at 11

A few weeks ago a friend mentioned that they hadn’t seen a post on the blog for Brodie turning 11.

Gulp.

I thought hard and realised she was probably right. In my defence a few weeks after his birthday we locked down – and well, the rest of that story is still unfolding.

So Brodie, you turned 11 in March.

You had a party with friends playing bubble football. All the kids who came were great fun and I could see how lucky you are to be part of a crew who have so much fun. Who have a shared language, inside jokes, games and each of the boys there treated Grier like their very own little sister – for good and evil!

Looking back, that was a lovely last hurrah before being separated from friends for such a long time.

I suppose you are firmly in the tween category now. Not a little kid anymore, not a teenager but somewhere in the middle. You are still resolutely you. Still sensitive and thoughtful with endless questions to ask. We took some good walks together in lockdown and I can’t imagine we would ever run out of things to debate.

You haven’t had a choice about who you spend time with over the last several months but I like to think you’d still want to hang out with us. You can be the most incredibly caring sibling, going above and beyond to entertain and comfort. Grier and Baxter consider you the most clever person going. They want you to appreciate their efforts and preoccupations and you are mostly a very good sport.

I can feel in the smallest ways the tug you feel to begin to find your own path. It’s inevitable and I fully support you having experiences, thoughts, opinion and feelings which are uniquely yours, which you might never tell me about. And whilst I can’t wait to witness you unfold into the person you choose to be the tender part of my heart, which held you close for so long aches a little.

So keep growing and questioning, stretching and pushing. Allow yourself to be in your feelings and thoughts, none of them are wrong, they are part of you. Hold on tight to friends who make you feel like yourself, hold on tight to the things that feed your spark. You don’t need to be more or less or different in anyway. Love you Bubs.