Memories bring clarity

My oldest son, Zach, is getting married this weekend. While trying to process this life change I have been having flashbacks to his growing up years. They are precious memories that I hope I will never forget. I guess that is one of the reasons I have this blog, so that if I ever get some horrible memory stealing disease many of my precious memories will still be retreivable.

I should have known Zach would marry young. First of all, his greatest fear when he was very young was not of being spanked, what was a bit of physical pain to him? No, far worse for Zach was to be...ALONE...this was a pain that could not be born. Sending him to his room was sure to bring on a fountain of tears. He would wail "banished" as he ran back the hall to his room. We lived in a very small apartment and his room was within earshot of all that was going on, and we never shut the door, so how dreadful could it really be? We could hear him crying and calling every 2 seconds, "Can I come out now? I'm done."In fact, as he grew older he learned to come up with problems that needed parental help to resolve as a means of getting out of his time-out. One day when he was about 5 he was in his room for a time out and I heard him calling and calling for me. I went upstairs to find out what was so urgent. It seems that he found an unpopped kernel of corn on the floor and for some reason only known to small boys had stuck it in his ear. Zach was in a panic because he couldn't get it out. Of course, neither could I. So...off to the walk-in clinic we went at 4:00 in the afternoon. They had to flush his ear 3 or 4 times and finally said they would try once more and if it didn't come out we would have to go to an ear, nose and throat speicalist. I prayed like crazy and they flushed. Wonderfully, there it was floating in the basin. On the way home I took him for supper at McDonald's, not as a reward but for an opportunity to have a talk. He never stuck anything in any body openings again, if you know what I mean.

My second clue that Zach would marry young came when he was 2 years old. At our church when children turned 2 they went from the nursery to Sunday School. After his first Sunday in Sunday School, we asked Zach what it was like. He informed us that there were girls in pretty dresses there. Interesting!

As Zach grew he had many friends that were girls. Most of them were blond and blue-eyed, another fore-telling. I have a sweet mental picture of him walking down the boardwalk at Ocean City with a childhod friend named Caitlyn with their arms around each other's waists. He also loved playing wiffle ball with another Caitlyn who lived next door. What fun times those were. As he grew older, he began to get shy about talking about girls and, I think wanted us believe he didn't notice them much. But he hated being teased about having a girlfirend or any such interest. Often it seemed that he might have a sparkle in his eye for a particular girl, but thankfully he was content to enjoy being with them in groups. My husband, Russ, had drilled it into his head that he should treat girls like his sisters, and so he did. This meant that sometimes he was brutally honest. My apologies to any girls whose feelings he might have hurt.

I think I really knew he would marry young when he began dating a young lady at the age of 18. She was his first love and he was truly heart borken when they broke up after more than a year together. He was not one to date around or just for fun and the fact that he dated her at all spoke volumes about the seriousness with which he approached the relationship. There were several interests after that but nothing really significant until Steph. When I first heard about Steph, I took notice and prayed. When he said he wanted to bring her home to meet us, I knew he was serious. I was careful to observe them together and I was struck with how comfortable they were together and how much they seemed to enjoy each other and make each other smile. These were very good signs. I prayed that they would be able to bring out the best in each other. I believe God has answered this prayer and I am looking forward to watching them become even better together!