Well, watershed moment #56 proves that not all these moments are entirely positive events, though still significant in that they provide insight into the heart, a pathway difficult to navigate at times. Recently, we were headed to dinner on a Saturday night and stopped to buy Trey a nice baseball glove. He surprised me by being pretty negative about it so I asked why as we left Academy. He was quiet for a couple of minutes in the car and then I looked in the rearview mirror and saw him with a pretty sad-looking face. I asked him what was wrong and, to my surprise, his bottom lip started to quiver a bit. What he said next shot a bolt of lightning directly through my heart. He said Daddy, I hate baseball. I want to play soccer. I have played baseball for 4 years now and I dont like it. I only play it because I know you want me to. I want to make you happy, Daddy, so I play baseball. I play baseball because I can see it makes you smile and I love you and want to make you smile. You know I can see you smile from the outfield, right? In shock, I looked at Dely and we acknowledged that we somehow had failed to notice him take a giant leap in maturity. Aside from a slight disappointment of his current assessment of baseball, I was shocked about the clarity and maturity our 8 year old son showed in expressing something that had obviously been percolating in his heart for some time. Moreover, the importance he placed on our/my opinion and his need to please others was very surprising. In that 2 minutes, I learned more about who my son really is...down deep where it counts. The sensitivity and kindness that spilled out reminded me of the value of effective communication with our kids. In those moments, we learn more about our children than the other 99.9% of the day. That bolt of lightning in moment #56 will stick in my mind forever...
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 03:11:35 +0000
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