I had a fabulous weekend taking a little road trip with my parental units and my boys to see my sis and her fam in SC. The hubby was out fighting battles. We did a whole lot of sitting, talking, EATING and dancing. Fun!
Things I'm currently pondering. Lent. Homemade deodorant because aluminum in deodorant has always scared me. Being more hospitable. The Apostle's Creed. Traveling. I like diversity in my ponderings.
Things that have recently amazed me. The 6th Grader's ability to use Powerpoint much better than his mother. Braces cost $5,000. The 6th Grader's wisdom teeth are almost developed enough to have removed. The 1st Grader's teeth have yet to come in on top although they've been almost visible through his gums for about a month. Lots of teeth amazement it would seem.
But the thing that takes the "has recently amazed me" prize is... (drum roll) I have to pick out a picture to go in the 6th Grader's yearbook in the little section we put in about him because he's graduating 6th grade. I'll repeat that for those who may be staring in amazement with me at that statement...because he's graduating the 6th grade. Deep breaths. So, I've been looking through all his pictures from babyhood on, and now he's about to finish his elementary years.....amazing. Yep, that one definitely wins.
I don't sit and ponder on this too much. It has the potential to absolutely make me want to puke a little. Everybody said it passes fast. Everybody was right. These days, when I'm not wanting to choke him, he's hands down one of the funniest kids I know. I try to focus on how much fun every stage is. It is so weird though that it's been over twelve years since they laid him in my arms in the recovery room. It really seems like just a few months ago. And the smell of Baby Magic can instantly take me back to holding him over my shoulder and sniffing his sweet head in the hospital the night he was born. Just last week, I was in choir practice and was flooded with the memory of walking into choir practice four days overdue with him, and everyone groaning and laughing that I was still waddling around. Then I thought about how I would take him to choir practice with me when he was a new baby and put the blanket over his head and pat his bottom until he went to sleep and stress everyone that I was smothering him. I can remember laying him on the changing table the first day after we brought him home from the hospital as clearly as if I had done it this morning. I looked at him and didn't have panic, just an overwhelming realization that he was here to stay. I can see him spinning that adorable face around as soon as his back would hit the changing table even as that tiny baby to look at "dogster" that Miss Wanda gave him. It was automatic and cracked us up every time. I could go on and on, and it would just cover his first couple of months in this world.
And now I'm picking out a picture to put in his 6th grade yearbook. Wow. We bug each other quite a bit now, and he doesn't smell like Baby Magic anymore, but like his dad's aftershave that he sneaks on his way out the door to school. Times of worrying that he spits up too much have turned to times of worrying that he'll understand the dangers of synthetic drugs. Times of trying to teach him to sit up have turned to times of trying to teach him how to become a man of God and lead by example. Times of holding him while he sleeps have turned to times of letting him go more and more.
All these changes can make a mama sad, that's for sure, but with those sad changes comes some great ones too. There are sports to watch and cheer him on, and friends that are in and out to enjoy and cut up with. There are dry-witted comments just like his dad's that crack me up. There are conversations that are more adult to adult. There are the amazing accent abilities, even if they are politically incorrect, and he has no tact of when to use them. There's seeing him become a young man that people love and trust. And there's seeing him just plain ole get it right sometimes. That makes a mama's heart glad.
But there are a few things that just haven't changed, and I'm not sure they ever will. There's the part where he's a mama's boy...a great big, bull in a china shop, offensive tackling, two hamburger eatin' mama's boy just like he's always been. Oh yeah, we get into it with lots of me saying, "You better get that look off your face!", but some things haven't changed much at all. He still wants to know where I am every minute. He still gives lots of hugs and I love you's to his mama. And he even still climbs in the bed with us in the mornings just to hang out sometimes. Some things definitely change, but some things stay really close to the same.
And there's another thing that's stayed the same. His mama being thankful. I'm thankful that I'm learning to look at all the fun that's yet to come and not be so sad about what's already gone by. But more than anything, I'm as thankful now as I was over twelve years ago. I've thanked God since the day he was born for this precious, giant boy who has made my world such an amazingly better place by having him it.
Now, it's time for me to go find a picture.
Made me cry!
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