You are here, at the start of a moment…
Double Digits!
A decade in this world and with our family.
You reminded us last night that you wouldn’t technically turn 10 until 7:55 a.m. this morning and joked you were going to shout out, “I’m 10!” when the time came at school.
You are very observant, a wonderful conversationalist, and have a great memory. I am always impressed with the questions you ask, things you remember and anecdotes (not to be confused with antidotes) you share with us.
This morning you told me that you’d like to live to be 100, especially to be able to see how things have changed in the future.
You like to arrive places early, from school to your dance classes. In the past 6 months or so, we started a new routine where we drive Daddy and Sean to the train station and then head to Keller for me to drop you off. Except that we arrive 20 -25 minutes before school begins and 10-15 prior to when they even open the doors to let students in. The chats we have en route there, as well as while we are waiting in the car, by the side door, until it is time for you to go, are some of my favorite moments every day.
As I write this, we are still waiting to find out if you have been cast in the Joffrey’s production of The Nutcracker. You are learning early the joys and challenges of taking chances/putting yourself out there, as well as how difficult waiting can be. Since this time last year, your love for dance has eclipsed most of your other extracurricular activities. 2019 being a dance show year for Dance Gallery Chicago, you performed in three routines on stage, including Ballet, Tap and Hip Hop and were awesome in all of them.
This school year you decided to add another genre of dance to your repertoire, taking Modern for the first time. By adding Modern dance and auditioning for The Nutcracker, we all agreed that swim team would be too much on your plate this Fall, so for now you have hung up your googles and competitive swimsuits. You recently expressed interest in learning to play the flute and joining the band at school. It was hard to talk you out of, but ultimately you understood doing so would likely be too much.
You truly shine when you are on stage and I continue to be so impressed with both your natural talent and how hard you work to fine tune your technique. You wish you had more time to do musical theater, but we continue to help you prioritize activities and not over program your life. The one show you did get to be in this year, Winnie the Pooh, was so much fun. We were so proud of you auditioning for and being cast in your first big role, as Piglet. Likewise, we were super impressed when you decided to audition, with a dance your choreographed yourself, for and got a spot in the Talent Show at Keller last spring.
This summer you really enjoyed taking tennis lessons again, as well as finally mastered riding your bike without training wheels. You were excited to say goodbye to the tandem attachment we used to use for our family bike rides and pedal all by yourself when we go on our two wheeled adventures. You continue to like to play golf, which is another activity our whole family can share now, and you joined the Keller Running Club last spring, which culminated in you and I running our neighborhood Ridge Run 5K race together on Memorial Day. You’ve grown to love hiking, as have Daddy, Sean and me. It was so awesome to stop in Gatlinburg, Tennessee and hike trails in the Great Smoky Mountains on our way to and home from our trip to Hilton Head Island (HHI) in August. Our family hike in Peninsula State Park, when we were in Door County, Wisconsin in July, was also a lot of fun.
You are a very lucky girl, one reason being how much traveling you get to do. From our incredible spring break trip to Universal Orlando Resort in Florida to our super fun Benson family reunion in Door County (except for when that tree fell on our car), as well as our awesome time with our Axe family on HHI and many weekends this summer at Grandma and Grandpa Benson’s lake house in Michigan, it’s been a wonderful year for the Traveling Bensons!
Another reason you are so lucky is how much live theater you get to see. It’s been an amazing year for that for you and our family, from the Joffrey Ballet’s Across the Pond, to our family’s subscription to the Broadway Series at Paramount Theatre in Aurora, to the North American premiere of Six at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, as well as the national tours of Dear of Evan Hansen, (your favorite) Come From Away, Les Miserables, and most recently Head Over Heels. Not to mention going to every single performance of every play, musical, and choir show your brother performs in, as one of his biggest fans.
You love to read and do so every night before bed, especially because you are a night owl and still struggle at times to fall asleep. I always remind you to just try to rest and not focus so much on sleeping, but I get that is easier said than done. Last Fall you read and loved the entire Harry Potter Series! I ended up reading along with you, finally finishing all of books myself, and it was so fun to discuss with you and your fellow Potterhead brother. With each book we finished, we watched the corresponding movies with Daddy and Sean. You are a proud Hufflepuff, as is your brother, and unlike me, who was sorted into Gryffindor.
It was so cool in April, when we went to Universal Studios and got to experience The Wizarding World of Harry Potter again, as the first time we were there, in August 2015, you were only 5 and I hadn’t read all of the books. We both got so much more out of the experience this time around, including our own wands, and it was super special to be there on Molly’s 11th Heavenly Birthday, since that’s when Harry found out he was a wizard. I love that we toasted Molly with our frozen Butterbeers, as we planned to, and talked about how much fun she’d have with us, if she had lived longer.
Another awesome thing that grew out of our spring break trip to Florida was you meeting your first pen pal, and one from “across the pond” at that! It was so random that we started chatting with C and her family on our way to Universal Studios that one morning and I am so glad we exchanged contact information. I do hope it works out to get you two together, along with our families, when we go to the U.K. next August, as we are planning.
I am also excited to take our trip to NYC next July with Grandma Jacquie and other families from Dance Gallery Chicago. This not being a dance show school year and you being old enough now, we decided it was worthwhile to allow you to participate in this program, which will include you learning tap and hip hop dances to perform in Times Square and on stage, while we are there. We talked about how some kids do things like travel sports and get to go all over the U.S. for tournaments and thus we feel like this is your version of that.
There are so many things I appreciate that we get to do together, as mother and daughter, from my continuing to co-lead your Girl Scout troop in our neighborhood and more recently participating in the Mother/Daughter Book Club we started with the other mothers and daughters in your 4th grade class at school. I remember how challenging navigating life and friendships at your age was for me (and still is as at 44) and I hope having our book club will give us all more support and resources to help each other through whatever comes next.
I enjoyed watching So You Think You Can Dance Season 16 this summer with you and am excited to see the Top Ten perform on their live tour, when they come to Illinois, with you in November! I wonder if the show will still be around in 8 years, when you turn 18, and if you’ll still want to audition then, as you say you do now?
You continue to be into fashion and very intentional about what you do and don’t like to wear. You love to wear headbands and style your hair different ways. Most nights you lay out your clothes for the next day, before you go to bed, and I always get a kick out of seeing the outfits you come up with!
I don’t have to tell you how precious life is and not to take for granted having our loved ones around at any given time. Being the sister of a baby girl who died before your were born, you’ve never known a world that didn’t include the reality of grief and loss. That said, I encourage you to continue to be aware of and to cherish the special, and even more ordinary, moments you have with our family and friends, as we never know when it might be the last time we are with them.
As I’ve told you before and want to remind you about today, my childhood friend Rosalinda died, when we were 10 years old. Her’s was the first wake that I recall attending and her death had a significant impact on how I came to view grief and loss. Rosalinda’s parents and older sister, who our family actually became closer to after her death, were an incredible example to me of how to honor someone’s life and memory, especially a child’s.
I am grateful that all four of your grandparents are still with us and that you get to see and spend time with them often, since we all live in the Chicago area. I am also happy that your aunts, uncles and cousins all live within a few hours of us, so you continue to get to grow up knowing and playing with them too.
You share my love for celebrating milestones, honoring traditions and indulging in nostalgia. You were especially kind and sensitive with me as our Axe family said goodbye to my childhood home this year, when Grandma Jacquie and Grandpa Kevin sold their house on Isabella in Evanston, where they’d lived for 40 years.
Today, along with other special days throughout the year, you like for us to do things as we’ve done in the past, such as opening your birthday gift(s) right after you wake up and going out to dinner to celebrate. Big shocker, you chose Jansen’s for your birthday dinner! I look forward to our meal there tonight with Daddy and Sean.
It’s hard for me to believe 10 years have come and gone since you entered this world, Abigail Grace. You are a very lucky girl, but in many ways I feel that we’re even luckier, as we get to have you in our family. Thank you for being you and all the joy you bring to my life and all those who get to be a part of yours.
Happy Birthday, dear Abby!
Love,
Mommy
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