Thursday, August 19, 2010

What a Boy teaches his Mother

"I made my bed.  Can I go now?"

I hardly nod yes before the screen door slams and out the window I see you ride away, a blur of legs pumping a red bike.  Its summer and you are seven years old.

Hours later I peek into your room to assess the job you've done.

A quilt tossed lumpily over the mattress suggests armies of legomen and other assorted treasures underneath.  I clear them out and spread coverlet smooth and wonder - "who can sleep like this?"

Moving on to the pile of dirt encrusted jeans neatly piled in the corner.  I lift each pair warily, as someone who has learned from experience, cautiously reaching my hands into pockets and pulling out rocks, marbles, army men, a magnifying glass all crammed together.  I wonder - "who can walk like this?"

Next to the dresser where boxes of every shape and size sit, stacked in teetering towers.  Every box is a treasure chest and I know without asking that you have the inhabitants memorized and filed away in that boy-brain of yours.  I marvel - "who can organize like this?"

Lastly, I pick up the encyclopedia off the floor where it has slipped from drowsy boy fingers at the end of a long day, its well worn pages marked with the dirty paw-prints of a boy who never stops.  I sigh - "who can learn like this?"

Later that night, after another pair of packed, grimy jeans has been tossed in the corner and a wild boy has been sent reluctantly to the tub, a smooth, clean little man in jammies comes in to kiss me goodnight.  I look at his funny face, his big ears and gangly legs, those missing front teeth and think "who loves like this?"


I've known you since the day I first saw you kicking and sucking your thumb on the ultrasound machine.  I've known your tears, your laughs and your smiles, yet some days it seems I don't know you at all.

You're all boy and I'm all girl.

Yet somehow it works.

8 comments:

  1. Thanks, Lydia! As the mom of a 7 year old boy who is also a Ben, it strikes a resonant chord!

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  2. Lydia, that made me tear up! I'm already thinking about Noah growing up and he's 11months old. Why do they have to grow up so fast??

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  3. This was just lovely. I'm the mom of two boys (12 and 6) and can sooo relate! :) I'm very glad you shared it and that you've joined High Calling Blogs. I look forward to reading more of your posts in the future. Blessings!

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  4. Love this. There are two boys in our house now. Both 12. One organizes neatly the other? I'm not sure organization is in his vocabulary. They both teach me about myself, and about what it means to love a son, and step son.

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  5. You paint such a wonderful picture. I feel I was there. Thanks for the post! Love comes in all different shapes and sizes.

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  6. Have two boys, all boy, wrapped always in all my love!

    Delighted to meet you today! Hope you don't mind if I splash around a bit to get to know you. This looks like a refreshing place to get drenched in goodness.

    Splashin,
    Sara

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  7. Lydia,
    Bounced over from HCB...welcome! So nice to meet you.

    I love this post. It is so well-written, and so true, especially the line
    "I've known you since the day I first saw you kicking and sucking your thumb on the ultrasound machine." Isn't it amazing that we do truly know them then?

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