rebeccayarros.com

Let’s start out with the obvious. Jason’s retiring this fall

So he puts Iron Man’s nail back into his finger. So Jason runs back to the rink to get The Hulk off the ice, and we absolutely had hockey family volunteering to bring him to us, but we weren’t sure what he’d heard, and The Hulk arrived just as the stitching began. He’s played up a year, he’s played goalie, and he’s played wing. He’s a little bitter, and he’s WAY cold.

Because everything you’d been taught about hard work paying off, about practice making perfect, didn’t give you the trophy like it does in the movies. We didn’t put you into sports so you’d win trophies, or championships, though you’ve done both more than a few times. I know it seems commonplace to you, but state championships are rare, and the fact that you’ve won two is something you’ll look back on with a sense of awe that you just can’t comprehend right now. We needed you to find joy in the work, and the payoff, to know that hard work isn’t all pain, but a hefty amount of happiness, too. 4.

And because my son is his own person, and the internet is forever and anything but sacred, our usually open, public family has chosen to keep this one aspect of our life private, because it’s not my story to tell: it’s his. Knowing that our family’s hectic pace won’t slow down any time soon means that I’ll have to adjust yet again as I prepare to jump back into writing in the new year. It’s a reminder that I’m more than just Jason’s wife, or the kids’ mom—I’m also me. I have to adjust that our market has some writers putting out 12 books a year like it’s nothing.