Dear Son,
It seems time’s fleeting hand runs fast and furious through the years. They blend and blur together as I realize this moment will be gone the instant I write it. Just yesterday, I was nursing you to sleep. Just yesterday, I was watching you stumble on your newly toddling feet. Just yesterday, I walked you into pre-school, terrified of letting you go.
Just yesterday…
So it seems.
I think about the kind of adult you will become sometime in the not so distant future. I can only imagine the infant I swaddled, the toddler I praised, and the little boy I escorted through the doors of pre-school, will have transformed into a man.
It will all happen by tomorrow.
If I can allow myself to accept that my precious boy will someday be out in the world on his own, I envision the dream of the man you will become. As you grow older, you glow with a sense of what is right and just and needed in this world. I can assume that the character, compassion, and integrity that you exhibit now, will predict the very character, compassion and integrity you possess tomorrow.
A Mom’s Letter To Her Growing Son
I’ll trace your character back to how you ran to help a kid on the soccer field when he was injured, never discriminating which team he was on. I’ll realize your compassion runs deep within your heart, as you put your arm on the fallen player and gently helped him off the field.
I’ll remember how you stopped a bully from name-calling and assaulting your friend, as you stepped in to protect the innocent. Your forty-pound body stood up to an older kid twice your size, as your fearless intervention revealed your courageous compassion.
You will constantly be presented with opportunities to help the wounded, lift the weak, support the suffering, and defend the downfallen on this vast battlefield of life. Many of whom you encounter will not be on ‘your team’, and several more will be more broken and bruised than you know.
Your heart will not discriminate but act only on what compels you to take a stand and hold a hand, wherever there may be a need. This is where your compassion will make a difference, over and over again.
And rising from your compassionate character, I’ll see your integrity shine in who you are. It’s displayed in the midst of a heated tournament game, as you politely corrected the referee from calling a play against the opposing team. You were the last one to touch the ball, and you believed that honesty was more important than a goal.
I’ll notice the aligned moans from men on the sidelines, who criticized your intention in the heat of the match while I stood proud of your ability to seek justice at the cost of a game. As the men exclaimed, “Did you see what that kid did?” I responded, “I saw that kid, and I couldn’t be more proud.”
There will be countless corners of littered wrongdoings, poor decisions, and violations of humanity that you will have the misfortune to witness. Innocent victims will make mistakes; while corrupt management will produce grave errors. You will be exposed to poor choices, deceitful leaders, cheating peers, and unjust principles. But you will discern what is right, with your conscience that shines with all that is good. Some may even scorn your choices and scoff at your intentions.
The world is wrought with such people. And just as you boldly stepped in to intercede the play on the field, I envision your courageous steps of honesty and integrity to continue to triumph in all that is true and all that is worthy of justice.
As beautiful as this world is to live in, I’ve found that our greatest moments come from the hardest places. When we are faced with difficult decisions in the throes of challenging circumstances, this is where our principles can either crumble or shine.
And as I stand on the sidelines and watch you play out your life…
Lifting the wounded, defending the innocent, correcting the mistakes and risking the game for the sake of what is true...
I see you shine.
Keep shining, my dear son.
I won’t stop clapping and crying and cheering you on, and exclaiming to the crowd…
“I saw that, and I couldn’t be more proud.”
***
*The post was proudly published on MomBabble.com first.
Gorgeous, amazing, beautiful piece, Chris. THIS SHOULD BE FRAMED IN AN 8×10, sent out to every parent, and shaded in vivid yellow. Love soooo sooo much! Xxxxxx from MN.
AW!! That sounds absolutely beautiful. I think I will do something special with it for Cade. 🙂 He read it and likes it. He’s quite a boy…
Absolutely gorgeous letter and I have no doubt you son is an amazing young man, who will grow into an even more amazing man, too! <3
I really do hope he continues to live these principles into adulthood Janine! I know there is a big world out there that may persuade him to think and behave otherwise. So far, he’s done really well sticking to his values. 🙂
Oh Christine. Beautiful post and your son is amazing. Tell him I’m proud of him…and as for those fools on the sidelines. Shame on them.
I know, isn’t that incredible? I just couldn’t believe what they were saying. WOW. I’m so proud of his integrity and compassion. I really am. Now, if he could get those chores done when I tell him to, we’d be doing GREAT! LOL (And I will tell him you are proud of him!! OH, I love that Allie! And I love YOU!)
Love this…
AW!! Thank you Lynn! And I love you. <3
How lovely. #parentingdoneright
Aw well, there might be some stuff we are doing right- but I know all too well, that I am blessed with a boy who ‘gets it’. 🙂 I’m so incredibly grateful for that!
I really love what you wrote about the greatest moments coming from the hardest places.
Your son strikes me as an amazing boy.
Des is only four but I get glimpses of what he will be like. I honestly thought I’d never have a son. I just thought I was one of those people that would only give birth to girls. Boy was I surprised!
Do you know I *knew* I was going to have a girl when I was pregnant with Cass, and I knew the second time we tried, I would have a son. It’s just crazy, but I was completely confident in this… I’m so glad you have both too! 🙂
You have a way with words Christine. This piece is so beautiful and powerful!
You can be proud of your son and of you. I am sure he is proud of you too..
Much love from Paris.
Thank you so much for your beautiful encouragement, my friend. He’s a pretty amazing kid. I pray he holds onto these values well into adulthood!
Oh, Chris, he sounds like a wonderful little man. Well done, you. And yes, he’ll be a big man before you know it.
You’ll blink and he’ll be in his third year of college and asking you to please delay your Thanksgiving visit to a weekend when all of his friends will be there. I’m heading out to see mine soon for our third annual belated Thanksgiving get- together. Surely it was just yesterday that he was serving me tea at the preschool Mother’s Day party?
Aw! I know it will be ‘tomorrow’ when I too, will be visiting my boy in college. It’s FLYING. Enjoy and embrace your holiday with your baby, Kelly! 🙂
This makes me think of my son! He’s only 5 (almost 6!) but how quickly time goes! We really must treasure these moments because they go by so fast!
Our greatest moments come from our hardest places – OMG so so true, and I adore you so much for saying what’s in my heart. You’ve done an amazing job as a mama and I can only hope that we are able to have our children meet (and meet one another) before they go to college!!! LOVE YOU!!!
Ahhhhhh, your kids are such gifts to this world. It comforts me to know they’re in the same generation as mine! I’m so inspired by you and the values you are teaching your children. What a joy to read this!
This was absolutely beautiful Chris. I know as much as you want to hold on to where he is now, you equally cannot wait to see who and what he will become. I feel that way.
So very beautiful and what an incredible keepsake for your precious son, Chris. I wish I would have written my kids more letters like this over the years. I really never even thought about it until I started blogging ;). They really need to hear these kinds of words from us. It makes all the difference. You are a wonderful mother to an outstanding son, my friend.
Very sweet, made me smile.
Standing on the sidelines and watching our children play out their life… Yes. It starts when they’re little and just carries on.
What a beautiful picture you paint in your encouraging words describing your son. And what a blessing your observations will be for him as he goes farther and further down the field of life.
Our kids are grown now, and as we watch them parent a new baby, it’s even more astonishing than (I remember) watching them as toddlers and children.
I wish you much joy as you continue to view the man your son is becoming.
Beautiful!
It’s amazing to watch our children grow and change and become adults.
It sounds like he will be an amazing man as he journeys into adulthood (he has a lovely mom to guide, coach, and cheer him on too)!
Thanks for sharing.
xoxo
I’m so far behind on blog reading — but oh so glad I started here! Just beauty, love and such encouragement from a mother’s heart. What a blessing to him — I hope you keep this for him!!! 🙂
Leslie, I am SO far behind too. I GET IT. I’m so grateful you came by to read this one and YES I have printed it out to put in his album! 🙂