It's his last birthday at home as a kid. We have to honor traditions.
Once the streamers were hung, his gift set out, "Happy 18th Birthday, Owen!" was written on the chalk board, and his card written out (with tears streaming down my face), I came here.
I figured since it was the start of high school for Owen since I had last logged on, maybe I'd type up a little update.
This photo is from August at Bethany Beach where we hired a photographer to take some photos for us. It had been years since we had professional photos done, and I wanted to capture the memories of our last beach vacation before Owen goes off to college in June. That vacation is likely one we'll never forget, with the Airbnb issues I had to deal with all week, but all in all, we had perfect weather and lots of quality family time and I'm glad we got the photos as a sweet souvenier.
I say June because he has his heart set on the US Naval Academy. If accepted, he heads to Annapolis for plebe summer a few weeks after high school graduation. The good news is that he'd be able to swim for the beginning of the summer swim season, and would be able to commemorate all his years on the Ashburn Farm Barracudas with a celebratory "last swim" before heading to the Academy.
He's enjoying his senior year from what we can tell, juggling rigorous AP classes including Multivariable Calculus which is a dual enrollment class earning him college credit, and his personal workout schedule. He opted to forgo fall club crew and instead try out for the men's volleyball team, a new sport in our county this year. He made the team and worked hard, but ultimately decided that volleyball wasn't for him and quit a few weeks ago. It's tough for a water athlete to all of a sudden learn ball-handling skills, and although he tried his best, it wasn't working out and he was just sitting the bench.
He took his time with the decision and went through all the right channels and we're very proud of him for standing up for what he knew was the right decision for him. Since then he practiced one afternoon with the cross country team, and was asked to row in place of a friend who was injured another day, which were fun opportunities for him. I think he's really enjoying the extra time to himself these days, to be in charge of his own schedule.
Owen has been hard at work on his college applications, and so far has turned in two completed apps: The US Naval Academy and Virginia Tech. His congressional nomination applications are also complete, to be handed in by his high school guidance counselor this week and next. He has six more schools he's planning on applying to, and those apps are in various stages of readiness. He's meticulous about keeping track of everything on his excel spreadsheet. It seems like we may know where he's headed as early as January since he's applying Early Action to all the schools on his list.
I don't feel ready to send him off into the world, but I know in my heart that he is ready.
He is smart, self-motivated, goal-oriented, kind, loving, and funny, among other things. He loves to eat, run, read, sleep and swim. I can't wait to see where this world takes him. Ben and Vivi and I are going to miss him dearly when he graduates, but we'll be his biggest cheerleaders and will always look forward to when he comes home for visits and holidays.
