This is Fifteen!

A few weeks back I messaged Little’s mom to let her know that there were two BU women’s basketball home games left in the season, and that I’d be happy to take her to the Wednesday night one pointing out that the other one was on Little’s birthday, and that I knew she likely had plans.

“We choose the one on her birthday!” she responded. I felt very excited and special to have some time with her on her birthday.

When Little was eight years old, I got her a saucer sled for Christmas. I bought myself a matching saucer with the thought that we’d go sledding together! It never happened, except right now we still have icy snow everywhere thanks to our unusually cold winter.

I grabbed a coat for her and some gloves (teenagers don’t wear coats. It’s a whole thing), and dug my saucer out of the basement and threw it in the trunk. We stopped first in the Center for Data Science so I could show her the cool view and take some quick photos of a hackathon going on in the building for a project that may or may not form into something.

From there we stopped for some snacks and smuggled them into the gym like kangaroos. It was great fun to cheer on BU and watch them beat American!

From there we hopped into my car and headed back to her place with a slight detour to a park with a hill on it not far from campus. As we carefully made our way up the icy hill, I asked her if she wanted to go first or if I should. She volunteered me, and I was fine with that. It’s been so icy, if anyone’s gonna get hurt in a test run it should really be the person who came up with the idea in the first place.

I took off down this hill and laughed like an absolute maniac the whole way down (I wondered later if my cackle embarrassed her). At the very bottom of the run I looked down to find the sled, which had been hibernating in my basement for six years or so, cracked into pieces beneath me. We hade a good laugh over it!

Little is currently attending a vocational school. It’s her first year there, so every time I see her I get to enjoy an update about which shop class she’s taken since I last saw her. Welding, plumbing, STEM, health. That kind of thing. The last time we were together she told me about the welding class and how she has a hanging hook that she doesn’t know what to do with. I asked if I could have it if she didn’t want it, and she later texted me with photos. “That’s exactly what I need for my plant!” I asked her to double check with her mom to ensure she doesn’t want her pieces (I got a second one too).

“I did,” she assured me, “They’re all yours!” And she brought them with her for this outing. After I dropped her off with a birthday card and some fresh chocolate chip cookies, I immediately went home and made the pieces mine. I’m obsessed with them!