Sweet Time with My Boy

I was working in the kitchen, emptying the dishwasher, alongside #5 today. The thought, out of the blue, hit me....This child is just different. He's different than the rest of us. Now, of course, I know that all of my children are different and individual, but he is much more serious and much more sensitive because he's the middle of my three youngest boys, I forget this fact rather easily.

Little did I know that that impression was necessary for today. I needed this information for what would happen later.

Today, fourteen years ago, I stood at my mother's bedside, alone, while she took her last breath. I shared a bit of the story of just what happened that afternoon in Primary today. #5 was sitting on the front row.

When I got done, I glanced over the kids from the back of the room, and I could see #5 hunched over, his teacher had his arm around him. I wondered if he was crying.

Within a few minutes, he came to the back of the room asking for the bathroom pass. His face was wet, and he was sniffling.

I took him by the hand, and we walked out of the room together. I directed him outside, and we stood there and hugged and cried together for a few moments. I asked him if he was sad about the story I shared. He confessed that he was. It was a sweet moment with my ten-year-old son, and I was able to share a lot of my feelings about life and death and the importance of Jesus Christ.

I was then grateful for the realization I'd been given earlier in the day--the fact that this boy was different. He doesn't joke around like the rest of us. Things hit him deeply. He feels deeply.

After church, I felt strongly that he was the one who needed to go to the cemetery with me--just him. So, we took off, flowers in hand.

As we drove, he, who is typically very quiet, piped up suddenly with, "Hey, Mom! Okay, I have a game. You ask me about my friends, and I'll tell you all about them."

So, I started in naming all the people I've heard him talk about: Brett, Eli, Tanner, Benny, Samantha.... He talked and talked and talked. When I ran out of friends, he came up with more. The talk went from friends to funny money (class cash) to state floats to his feelings about his younger brother.

It was a great day getting to spend it with a boy who never knew my mom in this life. I think he grew in his appreciation for her today. I think my mom would have been happy that I grew in appreciation of him. So glad he's my son, this sweet, sensitive, serious boy.