When he was in day care, one of his teachers reported finding my youngest son looking in a mirror, proclaiming, “It’s great to be Max!” That positive attitude seems to have stayed with him. I decided to celebrate the boy I knew when he was nine with the things he loved and I thought to save. The Godzilla t-shirt was his favorite and felt singularly important in capturing his nine-year old self. The worn, red sneakers were an emphatic symbol of his active life that I saved when outgrown. The M of his name is made from zoobs, his favorite toy. The A is a wooden alphabet block. The X was my first foray into working with wire in assemblage. The moon in the upper right corner with the blue train attached to it is a nod to The Polar Express, a book we enjoyed reading together. The triple 3s add up to his age.