On this day, a chapter ends
Yet somehow something sweeter bends.
The nature of time plays quite a trick:
One minute slow, the next too quick.

It feels like yesterday we’d only stare,
At tiny fingers and subtle hair
A little cry, a fragile grin,
A brand new world you stumbled in.

From careful steps and scraped-up knees,
To slick, hot slides and climbing trees
From picture books and cartoon days,
To growing in a thousand ways.

We watched you learn to tie your shoes,
Then win your games and sometimes lose,
Laughing out loud, you’d test the rules,
Only to learn your parents aren’t fools.

Then school arrived, your backpack and all
Next to your peers, you seemed a bit tall.
A nervous smile, a wave goodbye,
While Mom and Dad fought tears nearby.

But somewhere in those classroom halls,
Something occurred that I’ll always recall
A quiet spark began to grow
A mind determined to learn the unknown.

Especially math…oh, what a sight,
When numbers and equations felt just right.
While some just sat and scratched their head,
You solved the puzzle quickly instead.

Equations obeyed the pen in your hand,
Like numbers answered your every command.
At times I swear your parents knew
The calculator learned something from you.

And then came baseball…dust and sun,
A glove, a dream, this life had begun.
Long practices, the swings, the throws,
The dirt your mother fought off your clothes.

The cheers, the nerves, the wins, the grind,
The lessons tucked so deep inside.
For baseball teaches more than a score
To rise from defeat and try this once more.

You’ve been a true boy, no denying this truth
Like how you ate snacks that vanished through
No doubt, this was part of your growing phase…
You’ve surely eaten half our house some days.

Yet, somehow…within the blink of our eyes,
You stretched a little further toward the skies.
A deeper voice, a stronger stride,
A growing fire you cannot hide.

Eleven years…what wondrous grace,
To watch determination put doubt in its place.
Steadily thriving through all you do,
And slowly shaping the man in you.

Your mother beams with obvious pride,
Her love too deep for words to hide.
And me..? Well I hope you now see
How proud your dad will always be.

Not just for grades or games you’ve won,
Or all the things you have become,
But for your kindness, your heart, and your soul
The boy we’ve had the privilege to know.

Elementary school fades today,
Yet brighter roads now call your way.
Whatever comes next, wherever you go,
You’ll always be our pride, Ryno.