One of the things I look forward to every afternoon is my Facebook time; it might not be my proudest revelation, but a girl has to have her guilty pleasures and I think this is much better than ice cream and "Teen Mom." So today, i logged on and saw a notification that I had been tagged in a picture. Because of who it was from and because today was AR celebration at Tanner's school, I had a pretty good idea of the nature of the picture before I ever saw it. I expected to see Tanner with some of his friends, celebrating their reading prowess. I expected to be proud.
Yeah, so the picture was of four boys, all about the same size, most of them smiling. And then there was Tanner: I'm not really sure how to describe the look on his face. It definitely wasn't a smile, definitely not a frown, definitely not something I would hang on the refrigerator. I saw lots of "likes" on the picture, because really, they looked happy and like they were having a good time. I wanted to comment, but I was at a loss for words. I couldn't quite figure out the right response to this picture of my kid in a goofy (for lack of a better word) pose. So I didn't. I don't think I even "liked" it. I logged off, and I'll be honest, I wondered, "if this is how he acts at 9 years old, Lord, what should I expect in the future."
Well, here goes. Sometimes I'm wrong. Yes, I said it. Once I picked Tanner up from school, I had one of those figurative slaps in the face, and I realized this was definitely one of those times when I was waaaayyyyy off the mark. I told him I had seen a picture from the school celebration today, and then I surreptitiously asked him about the look he was making when the pic was taken. His answer was a quick summation of the boys in the picture and how their "gang" likes to act in school. I asked him if he and the "gang" ever gave his teacher a tough time , and then it happened: the slap in the face. His answer to the question wasn't an answer at all, but something even better.
"Mom, you know her Dad is real sick, so this weekend can we get something to cheer her up?"
Oh, good Lord! Had I seriously been concerned about the degree of goofyness in my little boy, while I was totally missing the degree of love in his heart?
Yes, I was. I almost missed the book because I didn't like the cover. And I gave birth to that book. Life lesson, y'all, courtesy of Tanner!
Happy Friday!
