A Letter to my Youngest Son as his Big Brother goes off to Kindergarten

When you became more than an idea to your father and me, we knew our family was starting to heal and move forward after losing the older brother you never met. But little did we know, fast forwarding four years that we would have to watch you stand at the door as your six-year-old brother – your best friend, your partner in crime and your own superhero – would drive away in the car to start his next adventure without you – Kindergarten.

You got a taste of it last year when your big brother was gone every morning during the week, but your adventures would commence again by 11:30 or noon. And now your life is changing again because your big brother is at school all day long. While you will soon be going back to preschool three days a week in the morning, you will still have to wait a few more hours until your brother/your forever playmate comes home.

All summer long we have watched the two of you play alongside one another, argue like brothers, scheme like thieves and laugh hysterically like best friends. We answered the same question of “Where’s Nicholas?” probably a million times when your brother was out of your sight for more than a second. We also listened to the two of you make up whimsical stories when you were supposed to be sleeping, feeding off of one another’s ideas to only make the stories even more creative and phenomenal.

But now as the summer comes to an end, we hope you find solace in the fact that the two of you will always be brothers and we hope you will always continue to be the best of friends. And while he is now going to the ‘big boy’ school as you like to call it, you too will be there before you know it.

While the two of you growing up makes my heart ache a little, we also know that you are growing up to be two beautiful little boys who will in turn grow up to be two wonderful young men.

Since your three-year-old attention span has most definitely already shifted to something else in the room before the car has even gotten out of sight, you and your big brother will still have the afternoons to play in your fantastic mystical faraway lands that baffle the imagination. The gift you were given in life was a big brother who will love you unconditionally because that’s what siblings do no matter how annoying you get as the little brother.

Your father and I only hope that you and your brother stay close throughout your lives and come to understand the true beauty and importance of family.

So take comfort, little man, for the hours will go by swiftly during the day until your brother comes home. And in the meantime, we know you won’t even skip a beat being Grandpa’s little sidekick while your brother is at school with your own adventures throughout the house, the yard or wherever the day takes you.

Know your time will come to go to “big boy” school and we will be sad because our little boys just keep growing up. But the beauty of life is that it keeps moving forward in order to help us heal, smile and grow. With each passing day, the most precious gift of all is that we are given the ability to live another day with the people we love.

We know that each day we are able to spend with you, your brother and sissy is a blessing and we love each of you more than words can ever express.