Listening with Love

I'm sad my boy is sick but we've had a lot of time to just snuggle and chat. And I've loved every minute of it. He's done a lot of talking for a boy with a sore throat and horrendous cough, but I've listened to it all.

He talked about a boy named Lawrence who moved into his class earlier this month. He told me along time ago, the first day he met him, how sad he was for him because he didn't have a backpack when he got to school and he couldn't even spell his name. "How is that possible mom? He's in second grade? Did he not have any teachers who loved him enough to help him? What about his family?" He told me this morning while in the sauna that his prayers had been answered. He's been praying for Lawrence to get help and he's now in the special needs class and he just seems so much happier. "I always smile at him when I see him. He likes that I still remember his name. I think it makes him feel special. He's a pretty good kid."

He talked about soccer. "I'm getting better but I'm still not as good as Justice. And he's such a mean kid. I think it's like you said mom. He probably doesn't have a great life at home. He said that he got hit from his mom once and I was sad for him. But that doesn't make it okay for him to hit us while we're playing. Plus, I'm worried about Evan again. I just want him to see that I'm scared he's going to get hurt if Justice turns on him. But, I will just keep playing soccer to get better and better, trying not to punch Justice in the face to teach him a lesson. Hopefully Justice will just have fun and forget about being a bully."

He talked about his teacher. "Mrs. Cummings foot is healing. I ask her if I can help when I see her sitting down because she hardly ever does that. So, I know it must be bothering her. I really like her. I've had some good teachers, except for that crazy lady last year. I'm sad when Mrs. Cummings is gone, but I also like that she gets nice subs when she has doctors appointments. Like Mrs. Pidrone. She's so fun. I think she's like 72 or something and she always shares fun stories with us when she is here. She used to be a teacher but she got tired. Or retired. Or something. Anyway. I like when she's there. She makes me feel good. I also like my computer teacher. She's the only nice one of the specialists. She doesn't get mad if we make a mistake. But I guess, all of them are really nice. Nothing like that horrible music teacher we had in Las Vegas. She was the worst."

He talked about video games. "Can we be done in here so I can play on the phone? I found a new soccer game. Oh and a race car game that looked pretty sweet. I'm sweating my butt off in here mom. Honestly. I think you're trying to kill me."

I love my thoughtful, smart, funny, sick little Jack boy.