Taking a Step Back

Who ever it was who said "You can't see the forest for the trees" had to have been a very wise person. For I have found in my life that it usually takes someone looking from the outside in who helps me understand my life better.

My most recent experience with this was when my neighbor Jen called the other day to see how I was doing and said that she had seen Braedon get off the bus and was thinking to herself how handsome he looked. She then proceeded to ask how he was doing and if he had his drivers license yet. I told her that he still didn't have his license because his grades weren't good enough. Then she asked if he had a girlfriend and I told her no. She then said that other than the grades it sounded like he was a really good kid...and you know, she is right. I guess sometimes I just get so fixated on his poor grades that I forget how good of a kid he really is.

Last night Braedon did something that drove that point home even further. I heard him call his dad and ask if there was any way he could work this weekend to earn some money. I didn't hear any more of the conversation, but later on he asked to go online to check out tuxedo rentals. He then proceeded to tell me that he had asked a girl to prom that day. When I asked "when's prom?" he told me it's the 19th which is only 11 days away. I then chastised him for waiting 'til the last minute to ask a girl....didn't he know that she would need to get a dress. That is when he told me that she already had a dress because another boy had asked her but then backed-out.

What a great kid I have!!! Here he is trying to figure out how to make enough money at the last minute so that he can take this girl to a prom so she doesn't have to miss out. He was even going so far as to hunt down his vest and he said he found a black jacket in the downstair closet that fit except the sleeves were just a little short. Other words he was trying to figure out how to go without renting a tux.

There aren't very many boys out there his age who would go to all this trouble for a girl who wasn't their "girlfriend". He has a good heart! I just need to step back more often and see him as others do!