Ethan at 12

This is the first picture of Ethan at 12.

We walked to school together this morning as the snow was falling. That's our normal routine. Most of our conversations are monologues by Ethan about the previous night's dream, random observations about life, or jokes about body parts and bodily functions. Sometimes I contribute to those.

Today the first thing he said was, "Whoa. I didn't know it was snowing. Whoa! Look at the trees."

I asked him if it felt different being twelve. He said no, but he really missed being nine, because life was so much easier back then.

He kept stopping every few feet to make snowballs and throw them at me.

On the final block to school we passed a man carrying a small child on his shoulders. Ethan laughed and said, "For a second I thought that guy was wearing, like, a really big hat."

Then he threw one more snowball at me, I told him goodbye, and he disappeared into the school.

He is truly one of the greatest things about my life.