Like this:

Henry and I have been matched for about a year and half now. I’ve enjoyed getting to know him and at times can’t believe how aware, mature, polite, and caring he is for a kid that turned just 10 this week. On one occasion late in my wife’s pregnancy, I picked him up after school to grab some dinner out. Henry loves the Red Robin and the chicken pot pie at Cascade Lakes, so I had a sense of where we might end up. I explained that we could eat anywhere that he’d like but that we needed to bring something back for Anna because she wasn’t feeling well enough to make dinner. He replied, “I’ll eat anything. Let’s call Anna and ask her what she wants because pregnant people (yes, he used the word “people”) like some stuff and not other stuff and sometimes weird stuff.” Since it was approaching 6:00 p.m. he suggested that we just grab take-out instead of eating out because Anna was probably hungry. This is just one example of Henry thinking about others and showing an uncommon level of maturity for a 10 year old.

Clementine (our first child) was born on December 28th. Henry and I had plans for video games, movies, and paper airplane making for that week, as he was off from school and I was off from work. We had to cancel our plans and have since spent little time together, as I fumbled through joys of first-time fatherhood. Henry and his mom came over recently to meet Clementine and after a little trouble when he first held her (notice her head in pic #1), he quickly got the proper technique down. He was very gentle and liked the fact that she “squirmed around a lot and made cute noises”.

Henry has been very patient and accepting of the time constraints that caring for a newborn has placed on my schedule. Watching him around my daughter reminded me of how special of a kid he really is and I wanted to pass these stories along.

When I signed up to be a Big Brother I thought that I had a lot to give but I had no idea that I’d be receiving so much from our relationship. I’m very thankful to have been matched with such a special kid.

Jeremy

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