Pop Rocks for Breakfast: 8.5 x 12 = 102

Dear ChellBell,

This is the month where you turn 102 months old and more importantly, stand at the spot that is exactly half-way between being 8 and 9 years old. And now when people ask how old you are, you don't just have to say "eight" -- you can say "eight and a HALF!" (you could always say "one hundred and two", but that might confuse people.)

There has been a great debate about half over the years. Adults will ask you, "is the glass half EMPTY or half FULL?" I know eight-and-a-half year olds do not waste their time asking each other these things. It's just something you do when you get old and realize that a. you don't have to have the answer to every question, and b. that sometimes it is just fun to argue a different answer than what someone else has. Another thing about adults is that we say things that have nothing to do with what we are meaning. Like the glass being empty or full. The question has nothing to do with a glass. It is actually asking if you are looking at what is there, or if you are looking at what is not there (the full part versus the empty part -- get it?).

So if you'll oblige me while I go on about the glass for just another moment, I would say that your eight-and-a-half-year-old-ness is definitely half FULL. The past 102 months have been packed with you growing like a weed -- not just in your height (although it's crazy that you're almost as tall as me!), but also in the way you think and they way you process and the way you love. You've learned things the easy way (like "i-g-h-t says ite") and you've learned things the hard way (like doing cartwheels can lead to a broken arm). You know what a loving family looks like, and what it feels like to have someone you can talk with. You've learned what it means to work hard for something that you really want, and how good it feels to serve other people. You know what it's like to have a life-long friend, and that you have to be a friend in order to have a friend.

You have loved and been loved, and that is life at its fullest!