The Middlest

He makes this look good.

Yesterday, Benjy created a time machine to travel six months into the future. I told him I'd miss him, and he told me he'd be back. This morning, he fought aliens as Agent J from the Men in Black, and when he grew bored with that, he transformed into a ninja. When you're five, you can reinvent yourself at a moment’s notice with your imagination as your only limitation.

Benjy's birthday was this week, and we took him camping away from the internet, television and video games. We didn’t get him the pogo stick he’d been dreaming of or even let him blow out candles on a birthday cake, but I don’t think he minded. "I'm five," he'd say proudly, holding up his hand to show me and giggling, the melodic way that only Benjy can giggle. "I know," I would say. "You're a big boy."

It never ceases to amaze me how much he has grown and changed, maturing before my eyes with each passing day. He is observant and wise at five, never missing a detail. Always cautious of new situations, Benjy has blossomed this year from a shy boy reluctant in a big group, to an active participant. When I look at him, I see myself, growing more gregarious as he becomes more and more comfortable in his world.

"Jacob is the oldest, Andrew is the littlest and I am the middlest," he always tells me. "But I'm big."

“Middlest isn’t a word,” Jacob will contradict, but Benjy defines the world with superlatives. He is happy being the middlest. It is his place, and no brother can take it from him.

What Benjy doesn’t know is that the word that best describes him is endearing. Compassionate, smart, brave, imaginative, funny and handsome are a few more, but they all add up to endearing. I am so thankful that Benjy was born into our family five years ago. 

Benjy listened intently to the story of his birth from the backseat of the car on our way home from camping on Sunday. We told him how we’d talked about names, and he giggled when he heard yet again that Jacob had wanted to name him Spongebob or Chicken Little. He clucked, and we laughed. Then Chris told Benjy how he’d brought Jacob to meet him for the first time on the day he was born. As Chris had lifted Jacob up to see Benjy through the nursery window, Jacob had said, “Oh, it’s a baby!” We’re still not sure what Jacob had been expecting a Benjy to be, but it probably wasn’t his best friend. That was an added bonus.

After we unloaded our camping gear on Sunday night, we took Benjy to the VIP movies in Tijuana for one last birthday celebration. As he sat in the huge black leather recliner with his feet up and munched on popcorn, he told Chris, “I love you, Daddy. Thank you for taking me to the movies. This is the best birthday ever.”