Car talk

Pinky and I were discussing a book she is reading for PreAP English.
The Brain: Don't spoil the ending for me I might have to read it in Honors class.
Pinky: That will be 5 years from now. I'm pretty sure you won't remember it by then.
The Brain: That will be sooner than you think.
Pinky: No, that will be in 5 years.

Hoppy

My grandfather died yesterday. He left me with so many memories.

He would call on Friday nights and ask, "Is it Friday yet?" My brother and I would go to our grandparents' house to spend the night.
We worked in the garden.
We played in the tree house.
We burned trash in a barrel.
We played in the sprinkler.
We rested in a hammock.
We picked berries.
We ate homemade ice cream with sprinkles.
We ate Neapolitan ice cream.
We played with model trains.
We played Flinch.
We played Wahoo.
We built fires in the fireplace.
We watched PBS.
We made banana pancakes and blueberry waffles.
We went camping.
We went hiking.
We roasted marshmallows. 
We went to football games.
We watched football games on TV.
We took LOTS of pictures.
We watched LOTS of slide shows.

He would have been 91 years old on Friday.
I'll miss him.

Blessings

The Brain made me cry for the second time in two days. You see, my 11YO son has become almost a stranger to me. He has terrible mood swings. One minute, he is pleasant and happy, and the next he is disrespectful and full of disdain.

Yesterday, a beautiful bike ride turned into a bitter experience as the Brain ignored safety rules and and became frustrated with me as I corrected him. He despised me for "treating [him] like a baby." I listened to him rant and then calmly explained that in this case, he didn't have a choice. He MUST follow rules to keep both himself and others safe. He seemed to tune me out, refusing to listen and pretending he had no reason to apologize.

Where has my sweet little boy gone?

This morning, instead of singing in the church choir, I chose to sit by this stranger-boy's side during the worship service. And God chose to bless my socks off. This bitter, angry, hateful, disrespectful boy of yesterday, who normally doesn't even stand, let alone sing, during church, stood next to me and sang with a voice so strong and pure:

Bless the Lord, o my soul.

O my soul, worship His holy name. 

Sing like never before, o my soul. 

I will worship his holy name.

And the tears flowed as he sang:

Hallelujah, what a Savior!

May God continue to give me these peaceful, joyful glimpses of my child.