The little boy I have cuddled with, zoomed cars with and built towers tall with is no longer a little boy, he is a young man who now towers over me.
His sixteen year old boyish grin is outlined by a scruffy beard, his shoulders are broad, his voice deep – yet still filled with kind compassion as he reveals snip-its of his day with me. He has always been so willing to share his thoughts. Someday he will have a wife who will be blessed by his ability to communicate.
Oh how he makes me laugh. He has the gift of seeing the world with such joy and lives his days seeking out adventure and revelry. We have always referred to him as a walking party. That boy enjoys to have himself some fun!
He is a good, good friend to his roof crashers – and he tries to be mindful of others.
This morning he was sharing a few exciting details from his previous 24 hours – flashlight tag, swimming in a creek, dirt bike detailing, bro man conversation, snake hunting, fish skeleton retrieving, transmission fluid filling, laundry folding, snack creating and more. Keeping a straight face during some of his antic “reveals” is pretty much impossible. Boys are interesting creatures, so different than girls – God purposed differences.
Exploration, adventure, conquering, hunting, protecting. I haven’t always gotten it, but hubby cautioned me early on I needed to let him be a him…he is not a her.
After the fun talk our conversation then took a turn to the more serious. I asked him what he thought about what happened in Aurora. He shared what he had heard about the shooting, I shared what I had heard.
After a bit of solemn silence I asked him if he had heard about some of the details as it related to several of the young men and young ladies that were in the theatre.
I shared with him that I had read in an article about three different young men in the theatre who had thrown their bodies over the young ladies they were with to protect them. He asked what happened? I told him each of the young ladies survived, each of the young men died.
He was silent.
The green eyes grew serious, under the long wispy bangs that curve over his forehead, the sweet smile no longer lit up the suntanned face.
He just looked at me…for a long moment.
Without looking away he said, “Mom, I would do the same thing.”
Time stopped, for just a MOMent.
I looked deep into his thoughtful eyes, “I know you would Westley.”
My boy is quite the man…as God purposed.
Oh, Tracey! You made me cry! I have four boys. Three are teens and I know they’d all do the same thing. And as frightening as the thought is, I’d be proud of them for it!
He’s a good one, Tracey. Thanks for sharing this.
Tracey,
I wept as I read this. I too have boys. Two so very different rays of light in my world. They are growing too fast-turning 9 and 5 just this past two weeks.
Your post reminded me I am not raising boys, I am raising men. Men who will be husbands and Uncles and leaders and Fathers some day.
Thank you for this insight. I thank God for you and ask Him to broaden your platform so more MOMents can happen!
SNIFFLE!
May we all raise such wonderful young men!
And, pray that whomever he spends his time with will be worthy of such a sacrifice if he is ever in this kind of situation. Pray he makes godly, wise choices.
And, by the way, he is SO handsome!