There's little that occurrs with me anymore that involves my kids that prevents a lump from forming in my throat. Watching two babies who were barely able to keep their own eyes open grow up into two distinct individuals has its "keeper" moments. Like some that happened over the past year as my oldest son acheived the milestone of 5 years old. He turned 5 as he & his younger brother of 18 months were camping with me at a church-sponsored weekend event. I'm not much of camping solo, but love doing it when in the company of others. And I can think of camping with no one else than those who worship with me each week. My children have been taught & blessed by those in my church & the influence that has been passed on to my children from those in my church have been invaluable.
We awoke on the morning before my son's birthday to find our tend wrapped in blue crepe paper ribbon & a little bag of goodies sitting by the door of our tent. This thrilled my oldest to no end to know that someone other than his own family recognized that he was about to celebrate a birthday. That caused a lump. Hearing my son go from one person to the next at breakfast the next day on our camping trip to ask each person in our church, "Do you know how old I am?" and to hear them respond by faking an incorrect guess caused a lump, too.
This past week, we had to go to the doctor for our physical in order for him to be enrolled in kindergarten. I told him he had to have an "inspection". That seemend to do the trick & keep his mind off the fact he was going to the doctor...and he wasn't even sick. He did real well, too. He cooperated with the nurse when it came time for his eye & ears test. He knew right where to stand on the scale when he was weighed. And he knew what to do when they measured his height along the wall scale. He blabbered the whole time telling the nurse all about his camping experience and that he was now "five" and had received some "cool" presents. We had a private party where he opened all his gifts once we had arrived home from the camping trip & had all had a bath. He got lots of Spiderman goodies which he had to tell everyone he met of his windfall.
Once inside the examination room, he continued to talk all about what he knew was going to happen. He was going to have his "inspection" (a term that appeared to take the nurse aback since I'm sure that term has not been used much for giving someone a physical exam) and he would not cry when he had to get his shots. Keep in mind this boy has a low tolerance for any pain whatsoever. He cannot resist shedding tears when he bumps his elbow. Needless to say, when he got his three shots in the arm, he sqalled like a baby. Yeah, I got a lump then, too. But when he understood that he would be getting a Dilly Bar at Dariy Queen, the tears did not last as long as they used to.
Being a father for 5 years continues to cause me to be baffled more & more at how any anyone could come remotely close to causing harm to a child. It was torture to watch the nurse poke a sharp needle into the arm of my son, and I cannot imagine how anyone could knowingly and deliberately do bodily harm to or worse yet, emotional harm to, a child.
We recently took our boys to the Pittsburgh Children's Museum. In there was the exhibit of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. Knowing what I know about the late Fred Rogers, it brought many lumps into my throat listening to the music Rogers had wrote & sang on his PBS TV show and knowing just how much he treasured each little child he entertained on his show. He took so many shots at those who ran his show down or who even ran him down. Yet, he took it all in stride & it impacted the lives of many children all over this nation and this world. Including me.
There will be many things in life that will be taking shots at you in life. Some will be as painfull as a 5 year old sitting through 3 vaccinations in the arm. Yet, all of them...though painful... will act to defend you and protect you from the hostile influences that will infect your life later down the road.
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