The Power of 10
By: Ted Anthony
Tags: Family History, Family

In some ways, you’re quite like him, actually. He told me once that he was determined to — how did he put it? — “summon good cheer whenever possible.” I have seen you do that when you’re fighting anger or hurt. You simply push through it and reclaim the positive. I wish I could do that as well as you do (and as well as he did).

With his grandfather at age 2. ©2009, Ted Anthony

It was excruciating for all of us to watch him fade away before he died last year, but I particularly admired the way you, at age 8, summoned yourself and said goodbye to him. That can’t have been easy for someone with no real experience of death up until then.

We made a choice to involve you in things that some people would say were not appropriate for your age — seeing his body after he died, spending time in the funeral home, watching the burial — and you handled it marvelously. These are just a few of the things about you that make me proud.

Ready to watch Opening Day 2016 in his Travis Snider jersey. ©2016, Ted Anthony

But enough about what already has been, Wyatt. I want to talk to you a bit on your birthday about what will be.

I see you as an emerging leader. I am always fascinated to see you at the head of a pack of kids, because that was not me. It seems to come naturally to you, whether it be sports or academics or just playing. That’s something you need to learn to use wisely, because it comes with some responsibility — particularly the responsibility to be kind and compassionate (see above). I have every confidence that you can do that.

I see you as a lively, unique mind. You have a sharpness about you that’s exceedingly uncommon. I hope you commit yourself to developing it, making it sharper, using it to make our world better in the years that you are granted on this world.

Vamping. ©2016, Ted Anthony

I see you as a pretty impressive athlete. To watch you on the soccer field (sorry, football pitch) and the baseball diamond is a thing of beauty. I can see how much you love sports. Use it to develop a healthy foundation for yourself and a respect for your friends and teammates.

And I see you as a person who will, when you deem something to be important, put in the work to do it right. You still struggle with this, as rightly you should — no one’s expecting you to be committed to excellence all the time when you’re 10. You should be having fun. But I see in you a spark that says, “Make a commitment and follow through with it.” Chase that spark if you can; give it the oxygen it needs.

I hope that, as you enter your double digits, you can grow your ability to stay calm. I hope that you can come to understand that life doesn’t only happen within the confines of a screen.

And I hope you hold onto the unusual and memorable characteristics that your various names hold:

Wyatt — A sense of justice and right and wrong, no matter what frontier you stand upon.

— A sense of justice and right and wrong, no matter what frontier you stand upon. Dylan — The soul of an American poet and wanderer, with a healthy streak of sarcastic anti-authoritarianism.

— The soul of an American poet and wanderer, with a healthy streak of sarcastic anti-authoritarianism. Kirk — The bold heart of an adventurer and explorer, packaged up with the compassion and humanism that a great leader always holds onto.

— The bold heart of an adventurer and explorer, packaged up with the compassion and humanism that a great leader always holds onto. Anthony — Forever one of us, always accepted when you show up at our door no matter how many years might pass.

What will you be in 10 years, Wyatt, when you finish this next decade? Who knows. That’s a story you get to write, a drawing you get to paint. Maybe you’ll become the most famous YouTuber ever known to humankind. But whatever path you start down in these coming years, I hope you’ll take all of the things that make you extraordinary — all of the things that make you the Wyatt who delights us and draws love from our hearts each day — and double down on them.

Because you’re already a pretty memorable guy right now. And if those things grow, there’ll be no stopping you at all.

I loved you when you were born, I love you now and I will love you always. Happy birthday.