In my January 2017 blog,  I talked about the funky teenage years. It’s amazing how you’ve changed in 12 months.

You got a lot taller this year, leaving your Mom in the dust.  And you have this cool early stage upper lip hair thing happening – I told you to keep it, don’t lose it.  You earned that facial hair dude.

Starting high school is a big deal, but you seem to be taking things in stride, finding your niche with friends and making Honor Roll. That’s all I could hope for at this stage in your life.

You’ve become fast friends with your posse of Sawyer, Nathan and Edgar, spending hours, sometimes overnights, at your house (or Nathan’s) on weekends, wreaking havoc with the food supply, staying up way past midnight, gaming, laughing and talking about God knows what.

I had a blast with you on this year’s getaway adventures – especially our August 3M ziplining day.  How cool was that?  It’s fun being with you for an entire day like that.

There’s nothing better than getting a hug from you and hearing “I love you Papa.”

I’m proud of you Ben.  Looking forward to seeing more transformations in 2018 as you hit your fifteenth year on the planet.

Love you.