An Old Soul

Mike has always admired the older generation and they are drawn to him.  He used to always joke with me and say about himself, "I'm an an old man trapped in a young man's body."   When Chase was only four years old just the two of us were in the car stopped at a traffic light near the house.  As I watch Chase through my rearview mirror, he is staring out of the window in deep thought with the most serious expression.  Chase turns to me and says, "It's a shame Abraham Lincoln had to die.  I sure do miss him."   Can you believe that?   A four year old absolutely believing that he was missing Ol' Abe!  My thought is that he must be like his Daddy, feeling like "an old man trapped in a young man's body!"

Like Everyone Else

This summer Chase attended his High School basketball camp.  Practice teams were divided as Shirts vs. Skins.  We are all getting ready to leave for baseball practice one evening when Chase says that he needs to talk to me about something.  I stop everything to see what is so important!  Chase begins to explain that the kids at camp that are on the Skins team (he also happens to be on the Skins team) wear these things with no sleeves.  I begin the cross examination by telling him that he has a plethora of sleeveless UnderArmour shirts in his closet in varying colors to choose from and that I don't understand why the Skins team is wearing a shirt!  I quickly learn that this clothing item helps with sweat and it is NOT like his Under Armour.....they are these things called "Hanes".  I must interject that as he says the word "Hanes" its as though it's a foreign term!  At this point, Mike has come to see what the fuss is about and getting caught up to speed with this conversation.  Chase lets us both know that he asked the camp kids where they get these things and they tell him that you can just go up to Walmart and get them!  We tell Chase that what he's talking about is underwear!  He doesn't buy into that theory and explains that they have these "little lines" in them.  I proceed to explain that they are ribbed and they are still underwear... specifically a "wife beater".  Mike is duly trying to help out reiterating the fact that he is looking for underwear and yes you can get several in a package at Walmart for about 4 or 5 bucks! Now that Chase believes that we actually do know what we are talking about, he doesn't care that he's asking for "Hanes" underwear from Walmart.  He just wants to know if we can go there to get some after practice?  "Yes, we will go look after practice", puts a smile on his face and now we can all get back to what we were doing.  This entire conversation took place with Chase standing on the landing in only his Hilfiger boxers.  Mike tells me to stop buying him expensive underwear, he doesn't even know what Hanes are.  Chase was simply pleading his case so that he could be like everyone else.  

Little Boy at Heart

Chase and I were on a cruise this summer an stayed in different cabins.  The night of the formal Captain's dinner arrives and I hear a knock on my cabin door.  There stands Chase at 6' tall looking so handsome saying to me, "Are you ready Momma?"  How sweet of him to come get me!  I adjust his tie slightly and we proceed to the dining room.  I should mention that Chase and I are not seated at the same table.  I watch him with a smile on my face thinking of how grown up he looks.  I'm thinking of how proud I am of him then I realize that he doesn't appear to be wearing socks!  That's not the only thing to take notice of.....as we are all having a five star meal, Chase has chicken fingers with fries on  his plate and a wine glass full of chocolate milk!  Priceless!  At 14 no matter how big he looks in size, he's still a little boy at heart.

The Way God Made Us

God made us this way.....a family of three with an "only." Unique in so many ways to have an only child, a dynamic much different than most. So very thankful each day to have Chase....our One and Only.