Miles at Age 16

(I made him crouch down for the natural light; he'd like everyone to know he's actually 5'10.5")

To read about Miles at age 15, click here.

1. Describe yourself.  "Percussionist, I like watching stuff..."  

2. What are you thankful for?  "That my parents are good at cooking and that we have a house."    

3. What makes you happy?  "I like watching new TV shows that you {Mom} have watched before.  And also hanging out with my friends,"      

4. What makes you sad or angry?  "Does frustrated count as angry?  When I'm doing jobs or something and somebody adds something to what I'm doing.  Like they give me more to do.  It feels like it never ends."   

5. What do you want to be when you grow up?  "I'm not sure what profession, but something to do with computer science."

6. What's important to you?  "Having my own time, not doing only band or... basically just having time for myself."        

7. What do you love most about yourself?  "I like that I can move on. Like when I sold my 3DS, I guess."      

8. What do you love most about your mom?  "She's really strong and she cares a lot."

9. What do you love most about your dad?  "He takes care of us no matter if it makes him happy or he's frustrated or something.  And he's really funny."   

10. If you could go anywhere, where would you want to go?  "I wanna go back to Europe."  

11. Who do you admire, and why?  "My parents 'cause they take care of us and they have good relationships with God."    

12. What do you want to learn more about?  "Computer science, because I feel like I'm behind just because I started a year late."   

13. What's something you'd like to do to help someone else?  "Maybe if they have a problem with something, like they don't understand something, I could explain it in a way they could understand or relate to." 

14. What are you afraid of?  "Drowning."   

15. If you could only keep one thing, what would you keep?  "I would say my family, but I don't know if that's what the question is asking.  And that's three people, not one."   

16. What's your favorite memory?  "Europe.  All of it."  

17. What are you proud of yourself for?  "There's a lot of opportunities at school where somebody might say, "Oh, I'm in so much pain," and I know that I'm in more pain, but I don't say anything because that would be obnoxious.  I know when to keep my mouth shut, I guess."     

18. What are you looking forward to?  "Going to State for band."  

19. What do you dream about?  "I don't know.  I don't remember my dreams."        

20. What else do you want to say?  "I can't believe I'm 16.  It doesn't feel real yet.  And I'm scared to drive."   

I am so proud of you, and so in awe of your talent.  You are such a kind, funny, generous soul and I love being your mom!

Gisèle, age 18

To see Gisèle at age 17, click here.

1. Describe yourself.  "I would describe myself as passionate, ambitious, and kind.  Hopefully."   

2. What are you thankful for?  "I am thankful for family and friends, as always.  And I'm also very thankful that I have the opportunity to go to college, have this scholarship... I feel very thankful for all the opportunities I've had this year."

3. What makes you happy?  "Dumb jokes.  I've realized that anytime anyone says, like, "fart," or "poop," that's hilarious.  Even "butt."  And Dad always makes me laugh.  So, "poop," "butt," "fart," Dad."   

4. What makes you sad or angry?  "Is it weird if I say the socioeconomic state of the world?  Politics right now can make me really angry.  Or when people talk about politics.  Or when people are ignorant of politics, that can make me really angry.  Also, like, little things that people do that feel entitled.  Like when people are walking toward you on the sidewalk and expect you to move out of the way instead of them also moving."

5. What do you want to be when you grow up?  "Pretty sure my answer was the same last year, but... Guess.  I'm pretty sure that's been my answer every year."  {Actor/director}   

6. What's important to you?  "My relationship with God is important to me.  Also, keeping up with personal relationships like family and friends.  And working hard."   

7. What do you love most about yourself?  "Physically, I've been really liking my hair recently.  And not physically, I like how stubborn I am.  I think when I set my mind on something I really go for it.  And it may take me a while to get there, but I'm very persistent and I know what I want."   

8. What do you love most about your mom?  "I love that my mom is a fighter.  I think I definitely get my stubbornness from her.  She knows what she wants and she's very smart and practical about how she's going to get there.  And I think that's something a lot of people lack, but you definitely don't."

9. What do you love most about your dad?  "Aside from the fact that he never ceases to make me laugh, I also love that Dad is there for you whenever you need him.  Like anytime anyone's feeling bad or has had a long day, he's always there in the kitchen doing dishes, or doing finances on the weekend, just always showing up."

10. If you could go anywhere, where would you want to go?  "Right now the answer is Harlaxton!  I'm very excited!  The people going there for fall semester just got there yesterday.  I'm excited to go there and explore all the hidden passageways."

11. Who do you admire, and why?  "I admire a lot of people, so I'm just going to pick one person right now, and this is more career related than anything.  Helen McCrory.  You know I love the quote used in her interview - "extraordinarily fearless."  And I think her style of acting is understated and natural but still elevated, and I'm in awe every time I watch her."   

12. What do you want to learn more about?  "There's a lot of things I want to learn more about.  I think I'll just keep learning as I grow older.  But right now, I'm interested in learning more about acting and directing and the theater industry.  Also, I'd be really interested in learning about gender studies and what that looks like in society right now.  There's a lot of classes that sound cool about that right now."

13. What's something you'd like to do to help someone else?  "I think right now showing up in the little things, like if someone seems lonely, going up to them and saying hi.  Or if I see someone having a hard time, letting them know that I'm here if they need someone to talk to.  Making an effort to reach out.  I think the little things are really important, so I'd love to just be there for people."

14. What are you afraid of?  "Calling CVS again."   

15. If you could only keep one thing, what would you keep?  "Aside from my Bible, because I think that's a trick question, or my phone... I guess my cross necklace that I always have on because it not only reminds me of God and to keep Him in my thoughts always, but also you guys."

16. What's your favorite memory?  "I've got a lot of really good memories.  Just 'cause college is on my mind right now - I really like thinking back to me getting that letter from Evansville after Texas Thespian Festival, and I had been waiting for this letter, and when it came I opened it up and it said something along the lines of, "While we enjoyed meeting you..." and I thought that I hadn't gotten in, but then I read further and it said I had gotten in.  And that was the only college letter that I ever cried when I was accepted, and thinking back to how little I knew of the program then, and I was still excited for it, and it's crazy to think about where that's led."  

17. What are you proud of yourself for?  "I'm proud that over this past year I've really faced my fears, whether that be calling CVS or otherwise."

18. What are you looking forward to?  "We've got our first staging rehearsal for Jagged Little Pill tonight, so we're going to go over choreography and blocking, and the rehearsal room is going to be taped out so we have rough dimensions of the stage, so I'm really excited to get going on that.  Plus I've gotten a lot of compliments on my singing voice, actually, so that's cool."  

19. What do you dream about?  "I'm trying to think of actual dreams I've had at night.  I haven't really dreamt much these past few nights.  Dreams for the future-wise, I'd love to either be in a show at National Theatre, be in a play on Broadway, and/or be in a long-running comedic TV show."

20. What else do you want to say?  "I don't know.  That it's weird that this is my final birthday blog thing.  Yeah.  And I miss you guys."

Gisèle, you make me so, so proud.  You are an incredible woman, and I'm so blessed to be your Mom.  Happy birthday, sweet girl!

Miles at Age 15

To read about Miles at age 14, click here.

1. Describe yourself.  "Creative, funny.  I'll just go with that."   

2. What are you thankful for?  "My family, what we have, and the opportunities we have."  

3. What makes you happy?  "Doing my own thing and not being bossed around, like not being able to enjoy myself."      

4. What makes you sad or angry?  "When people are annoying."  

5. What do you want to be when you grow up?  "I don't know." 

6. What's important to you?  "Uh, being able to have my "me time" but also be helpful."       

7. What do you love most about yourself?  "I like that I'm not spoiled."    

8. What do you love most about your mom?  "She's strong, she's been through a lot but she can go through more."  

9. What do you love most about your dad?  "He's very hardworking and takes care of the family and does things for us even if it means he's not happy."  

10. If you could go anywhere, where would you want to go?  "I'd go back to Europe.  Go on a Europe trip, visit some of the places we've already been to, but I'd also like to go to Spain, and the Netherlands again."   

11. Who do you admire, and why?  "I admire my parents because both of them are strong."  

12. What do you want to learn more about?  "I want to learn more coding skills for TSA {Technology Student Association} and be able to keep up in all my classes and not fall behind."   

13. What's something you'd like to do to help someone else?  "Make them feel welcome and not left out."  

14. What are you afraid of?  "I don't know, maybe boredom?"   

15. If you could only keep one thing, what would you keep?  "My family."   

16. What's your favorite memory?  "Probably the Europe trip 'cause we saw a bunch of stuff I'd never seen before and I got to have a bunch of foods I'd never had before and everything was really good."   

17. What are you proud of yourself for?  "I'm proud that I memorized all my marimba music."   

18. What are you looking forward to?  "Concert season in band and finally being used to all my classes and staying on top my classes."  

19. What do you dream about?  "I never remember my dreams."      

20. What else do you want to say?  "I need to do more Aceable {driving school} lessons."  

I love watching you grow into the man you're becoming.  You have such a kind heart, you're so thoughtful, and you're incredibly smart and funny.  I'm so blessed to be your mom!