Holden, Holdy, H, Ma’am, Bruh,
You are 13 today. Officially a teen. A teenager. An upper schooler. A menace. A delight.
This past year has been, in a word, wild.
You started 7th grade at York Academy, and girl, it was a TIME. The transition to upper school was not without drama. Executive function? We’re working on it.
You made the honor roll in the third marking period (yay!), but also managed more detentions than I can count (you’re constantly late to class), two in-school suspensions (you’re late a lot), and one out-of-school suspension (that kid had it coming). You’re a yapper, an eloper, and have a certain “Holdenness” about you, in the words of your math teacher.
Your teachers don’t quite know what to do with you. Your friends? They adore you. You’re still thick as thieves with Joseph — your bestie, your ride-or-die, your FaceTime twin. You even went to your first school dance together this year. Cute!
And then there’s cheer. You absolutely lit up this year. With York Elite’s Purple Reign and Senior Smoke, they just got soaked from Atlanta to Dallas to Delaware, from Jersey to Pennsylvania. Now you’re kicking off Season 10 on Code Black.
Practice starts next week, and it’s back to the grind… which will really cramp your sleeping schedule.
Ma’am, you sleep all. the. time. Hello, puberty.
If you aren’t at school or cheer, you’re sleeping. We gingerly wake you up at dinnertime, like we’re rousing a hibernating bear. And sometimes, you’re as mean as one. But most of the time, you’re the same lovable goof.
Your perm is still waving strong (thank you, Miss Jess), and this year you got contacts — because cheer + no glasses = headaches. Have you actually worn them? Once. Maybe.
For your birthday, you asked to do the TikTok thing where I hold up two options of fun things to do and you pick one. I’m still trying to think of what cheap but fun options will meet your approval.
Your birthday present this year? Stray Kids tickets. You and Jiyah are counting down the days to the concert in DC.
You’re currently all-in on K-Pop, Alice in Borderland, Snap Chat, and TikTok. You also joined Instagram in the brief TikTok deletion and now you send me countless (pretty disturbing) reels every day.
You’re still the same kid who’s full of contradictions — confident and anxious, sweet and savage, loud and sleepy, creative and chaotic. You’re strong, hilarious, occasionally foul, and deeply kind (unless you’re talking to your brother, in which case, all bets are off). But if the world came for him? We know you’d throw down.
You’ve grown so much this year — not just in height (you’re almost as tall as me!), but in grit. In heart. In maturity. You are a force, Holden. And we are in awe of you, always (and afraid of you, sometimes).
Please stop farting in the car, though. Seriously, it’s been going on long enough.
We love you so, so much. Happy 13th, kid.
Love,
Mom 💜
oh bother. blog 