5

 

 

  

10:22 AM, Wednesday, September 28th, 2022:   A decade.     10 years is a moment for sure. I'm assuming 13, 16 and 18 will also feel big. But 10 is the first moment as a parent I've noticed: oh that period is really, REALLY over and we are headlong into young adulthood. But this is a letter to Vienna... Dear Vienna,   Last year I talked about you being YOU but also added in: YOU REALLY NEED TO GO TO SCHOOL for that to kick in. It was a few weeks away then, and now it's been nearly a year and good, god, damn. You have skyrocketed in every possible way.   I mentioned last year that 9 was the moment I knew I was me. I didn't know all I could do, but I knew inherently what made me tick. Of course, that came from bouncing shit off kids at school. Something you weren't able to do last year (or the year before, jesus). You were bursting to be and do so much and you just couldn't. A year later? OHMYGOD. The way you talk about your friends and your ideas and embrace your inner-weirdness is so amazing!! You're just buzzing. You buzz so much that my eyes sometimes glaze over and I feel like I'm gonna fall asleep but please remember that's because I'm an old man and your energy is just boundless. Also understand that when you start to describe an idea you have? I go into action mode in my brain and start thinking of logistics and how to make shit work and you're just riffing. Meanwhile, I'm exhausted because I'm so used to DOING. So please don't take my clearly overwhelmed expression as me not wanting to hear the ideas... my brain is just in a different mode as yours. You'll get there too. Once you realize what it takes to achieve the dreams, you'll riff differently.   But yes, going back to school turned you into Super-Vienna. We knew the majority of your anxieties would start to dwindle once you weren't quarantined, but I don't think we had any idea what a leader you would be with your friends. You are so social, so outgoing. It's such a marked difference between you as a baby. And what I love most of all? Damn you have no issue telling people how you feel, when you life something, when you don't. Even if you have empathy for them, you don't (presently) lose yourself in trying to please them. DOUBLE DOWN ON THAT SHIT, KID. I mean, we all do shit we don't necessarily like to make others happy, but to have the ability at 9 or 10 to say "no, don't really want to do that" means a lot. Because your heart is screaming: DON'T DISAPPOINT THEM and you're battling through that. Good on you. Keep it up. Alright - first big ass birthday party on Saturday at a ROLLER SKATING RINK?!?!?! Oh man I can't wait. So proud of who you've become and cannot, wait, for, what's, next!!!   Love, love, love...   Adam