WonderBoy Gaby Rocha

I’ll write more this weekend & fill everyone in on my plans for 52 Figments, but for now I have much more important business to attend to…

Wishing Mr. Gaby Rocha the HAPPIEST BIRTHDAY EVER!

A couple of years ago I had Gaby over to my house in Solvang for a play date along with his sisters Katarina & Sofia.  I spread out Twister mats on our kitchen island and let everyone go to town with all the art supplies I had on hand.  It was so fascinating to watch each of them get lost in their unique creative processes.  Katarina worked on the cover of a journal for the entire time, wanting to make it perfect.  Sofia was a wild tornado of activity, creating page after page with mountains of glitter and paint.  And then there was Gaby – engineer Gaby, quiet genius Gaby – trying to figure out how to construct a tee-pee with people out of cotton balls, toothpicks and glue.  I think we even had an empty toilet paper roll at one point.  Gaby is always the one that challenges me and stumps me when we’re having creative time.  Whenever I would offer to draw something for the kids, the girls let me off easy by requesting butterflies, houses and rainbows.  Gaby coaxes me into compositions that make me cross-eyed – in the very best way – by starting off easy and then unveiling the masterpiece forming in his mind.  An example:

Gaby:  "I want you to draw a house."
Christine starts drawing.
Gaby:  "With a skeleton…"
Christine begins drawing a skeleton and is pleasantly surprised she is able to do this, a skill she had no idea she had.
Gaby:  "…at a table…"
Gaby:  "…eating a chicken…"

…and on and on it would go. 

I love watching Gaby work and think, because I can see him constructing his thoughts and ideas building block by building block.  I doubt his mind ever stops working and I am so very curious to see where his inquisitive mind will take him.

The best news is that whatever Gaby does and wherever he goes he carries with him the sweetest heart imaginable.  All of the Rocha kids have such beautiful, generous, creative spirits, and Gaby is no exception, but in Gaby I see a very special tenderness.  In Gaby I see a very focused, determined, loving boy whose heart is huge and whose feelings run deep.  It is through that heart of his that I believe he will find his greatest power, and as he grows up and learns to tap into that passion, he will make his way in the world as a quiet warrior.  To write this gives me goosebumps and makes me teary, because to see such a beautiful force in the world cannot be anything other than overwhelming.

One of my favorite memories of Gaby involves one of the many sibling arguments between he and his sister Katarina.  We were all in the pool when Gaby and Katarina started fighting about who knows what.  Toys were thrown and tempers escalated, and at one point Katarina started trying to pull down Gaby’s bathing suit shorts.  She didn’t get very far, but even so Gaby was mortified.  Despite this frustration at his sister and embarassment over a possible bare butt, he started to laugh.  I will never in my life forget that grin that started to form on his face even though it only lasted a quick instant before he realized he was supposed to be mad at his sister and he went back into sibling battle mode.  That is what I love about Gaby – that there is so much going on beneath the surface, and that the deeper he is willing to go into himself, the deeper he sees and expresses the truth.  Gaby didn’t want his shorts pulled down (would any of us?), but honestly it was kind of funny.  Gaby knew this, and for one sweet moment we all saw that, and we all shared that silly moment.  For me, that moment became a memory I cherish, something that always brings a smile to my face, not because Katarina was trying to pull down Gaby’s shorts, but because Gaby saw the hilarious truth of the situation – that it was worth laughing about, and that beyond the silly arguments, he and Katarina adored each other.

Gaby, Gaby, dear sweet Gaby…thank you for making the world a better place.  Happy Birthday.