stilettos to slippers: 9 - Happy birthday Cooper

Happy 9^th Birthday Cooper

Wow what a year.

I don’t know where I should start with this birthday letter. I suppose, if I’m honest I’ll start by saying that I know how hard the past 9 months in particular have been for you. You more than the others have really suffered through what everyone keeps referring to as “unprecedented times”. While there are days where I think your Dad and I have done well to shelter you from the stressors of the past year, I know you have felt let down by us and disappointed in our decisions whether they be within our control or not.

At 9 there’s a level of understanding you have about the world around you, and while we can try to protect you it’s not always possible. I’m sorry that you have felt the impact of the past year more than the others. I’m sorry sport was cancelled because of smoke, threat of fire, flood and COVID. I’m sorry that school was closed, that you were unable to be with your friends and that we chose to spend such a large amount of time remotely. We honestly believed that the time on the farm would be better for your mental health, and I’m sorry you felt it isolated you further from your friends. I’m sorry you felt home schooling was hard and that I pushed you too much. When you read this, I hope you understand that all of those decisions were made in your best interest and out of love, but also because we were afraid and while everything may have stopped for you they didn’t for us and that that we did what we believed was best.

While for your birthday we were back in Canberra it was different than birthdays before, parks were closed, businesses were closed, there were rules to how many people could be in a house at any one time; and for you that meant it was only Liam would could celebrate with you.

Now, I want to focus on you, this is your birthday letter after all and there are so many things about you this last year that I am so proud of:

1) Towards the end of last year you made a really hard decision not to write Paxton’s name down on who you wanted to be in a class with for 2020. You recognised that the fierce friendship you two have was impacting on your ability to concentrate and learn in class.

2) This year you’ve risked your own safety to assist others. Swimming out to help your cousin Dean who’d jumped in too deep off the pier at Forster, and throwing yourself in front of Carter so the 9 seater glass outdoor dining table fell on your instead of him.

3) Your attitude toward sport. You play for fun and to be with your mates and while at times the super competitive side of me wishes you showed a little more competitive nature, it’s nice to see that you are gracious in both winning and defeat.

4) Your independence and level of maturity. I can trust that you will make the right choice.

You’re a truly remarkable 9 year old. As you grow I can see you start to pull away, I can feel some attitude creep into your responses and behaviour, and given the circumstances we understand, but we also understand that these next years are going to feel like the hardest for you, too old for many things you used to enjoy but not yet old enough for a lot of things you want to try too. I’ll try not to embarrass you at footy, or get out of the car on crossing wearing my ugg boots, I won’t lecture you about bed time or brush your hair in front of your friends but I will love and support you, and I’ll try my hardest to keep you safe no matter how difficult it is for you to let me.