J you are a boy who sticks to your guns. When you were 2 or 3 you decided that your favorite color was red. Since then, there has been no doubt what color you'd choose for the plastic gingerbread man in Candyland, your backpack, your new folders for back to school.... When you were 4, you shed tears in the car the night before your 5th birthday because "I don't want to be 5, 4 is my favorite number!" You've since added a little to that, and now 44 is you favorite number - and as you were learning to add double digits, the first combination requested was always a pair that would make 44!
You're a boy of conviction. A few years back, you decided lions were your favorite animal. There's a lion calendar in your room, plenty of early I Can Read books were about lions and you memorized nearly every episode of the Lion Guard, Disney's successor to the Lion King, my guess - not watched by too many. Nobody at Auntie Amy's house for Christmas of 2020 will forget your enthusiasm over your favorite gift, AN ASIATIC LION STUFFED ANIMAL!! Just what you'd always wanted ;)
I think it was a nature show when you first learned of the nearly extinct Barbieri Lion. You needed to know more - it was black. There was one in a zoo in Europe. Somewhere between there and now, you have decided your future job will be a "Hybrid Lion Scientist" - extracting DNA from Lions and Big Cats and making combinations "Lither (Lion/Panther), Litah (Lion/Cheetah), and of course the Black Lion (Lion/Jaguar)!"
My favorite part of this chapter is watching your passion and creativity explode! You have endless ideas and energy for your future company, Lion Hybrid Industries. At school last week, the kids were invited to dress as their future careers. We picked out a shirt on Amazon and you proudly wore it to school and described to your 3rd grade classmates what your future job would entail. While other kids talked about a career in the NBA or a builder, you stood confidently and explained your role as a Lion Hybrid Scientist. I asked if anyone understand your dream, you responded "most said 'I have no idea what he's talking about!'" I said, "ha, they said that?" You said, "no, but I could tell that's what they were thinking in their heads"
Oh my J. Perfectly you. Perfectly happy marching to the beat of your very own drum. One of my only wishes for you is that you never, ever lose that sense of security about yourself. The world is yours..... my smart, funny, creative, kind son.
Career Day, 3rd Grade
You assigned roles to many of your friends and I helped you draft a company org chart!
