Dear Riley

Today you turn 15.

This open letter is all about you and its my attempt at recording all the small details of your life at 15 (as I see it).

You love being you: you are comfortable in your own skin and you mostly like your everyday life. You have some close mates and are in the last couple of months girls have made an impact on you. You did have a “girlfriend” for about a week until I suspect school/rugby/homework time pressures made it all too hard and you told Dad “it’s off move on”. You like Siena and admire some of your teachers. You have a personality conflict with Mrs Chutcuti (whose strengths and personality you won’t value until you are much older)  but even then she thinks you are great to teach and you manage to keep your impatience with her in check (as Dad and I expect you to do with teachers and coaches).

You and your board at Mlooba Beach

You are FUNNY especially to me and Dad. Your sense of humour is dry, a combination of Uncle Joel and Uncle Stephen at times.  Your humour is the quiet type, one liners and witty comebacks are your specially (when you are talking and laughing … you're 15 … sometimes you just grunt).

You are starting to exert your independence. In the last couple of months you completed work experience at Brisbane Airport and stayed the week with Nick and Tracy and travelled to Northern NSW for a Rugby tour. You like being your own person without Dad and I nagging you with all our bothersome rules like bedtimes and homework.

Rugby Trip 2012 - why are you being cuddled?

Saying you eat a lot is putting it mildly.  Your favourite foods are still meat and potatoes, curries and roasts. Every Sunday you tell me off for only cooking one packet of bacon and last weekend when we went to Nanna and Poppies I took a kg of bacon that Nanna thought was over the top. There was none left J . You love cookies and cream ice cream but only the ultra-expensive brand of course and you like to eat it straight out of the carton with the ice cream scoop. This causes Dad and I to scream at you. You are a little bit finicky about food at the moment … if someone else touches your food you won’t eat it needless to say this gives Lucy great pleasure in annoying you.

You love the mirror. You love going to the Uni gym and you love skateboarding in Ptown. You ask me to take you to  Ptown on the weekends to skate and I walk. I love these afternoons with you.

You are learning to be a man by wrestling Dad! Well at least that is what the Parenting book tells me. Lots of your interaction with Dad is trying to get Dad to submit in a wrestle or seeing who can give the other a dead arm. There is lots of biffo going on. It’s important that Dad doesn’t back down and I guess you will get that one day when you have sons of your own. We know we ask a lot of you with chores and helping around the house. You are a gun lawn mower and whippersnipper as well as helping Dad rebuild the house.  Believe it or not this will stand you in good stead later in life and compared to lots of kids you have it great.

You have just started a class at school call Program Challenge where you work on a project with a community mentor. You were chosen to do this class by Mrs Bolton and it’s a privilege. Your mentor is Mr Pat O’Dwyer a retired Mining Engineer who will guide you in putting together a feasibility study for a new open cut mine.  I took you to the meeting with Pat and let me tell you I was a little bit worried. Especially as on the way in the car you said and I quote “This meeting better be good I washed my hair for it and its mint”. I have to say that in the meeting you blew me away with your maturity and intelligence and manners. Pat also commented to Mr Height how switched on and prepared you were. This sums up your 15… some days are golden some days we want to sell you on ebay.

You, Pat and your mint hair

Other small details that will fade as you get older are: you like Quarter Pounders, Gansta Rap, very plain t shirts, Nike dress shoes, Facebook, skype, nutrigrain, black skinny jeans, surfing magazines, going to the beach and the uni gym.

Your bedroom is always a mess, you never want to get up for school, you are always late getting to the bus, you argue EVERY time its your turn to do the dishes and to our knowledge you have never voluntarily picked up a towel off your floor.

Rugby Trip 2012

Happy Birthday Bear, we love you and you love us and that is all.

Mum & Dad xxxx