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This is one of those bittersweet moments.. He is just about to turn 8, but sometimes he seems so much older.
We were doing our tuck-in routine and I made up a math problem for him to do. "If a farmer has some orange trees and it takes 162 oranges to make a gallon of juice, how many oranges do we need to make 5 gallons?" We worked through the problem and then he got all quiet and then he did something very unusual for him, he just burst open and told me what he was thinking. He said he felt sad because he was thinking about an old man trying to squeeze all those oranges and he felt like he would burst because he couldn't help the man and there were so many people in the world and problems he can't fix and it just makes him feel like a computer that's making a Ehhh! Ehh! error sound.
My heart squeezed a bit because I hurt that he felt that way but I was also pleased that he was thinking about other people. I pointed out that he does do things to help like give to the offering at church that supports two kids we are sponsoring, and he donated two large boxes of his old books to his sister school in Mississippi. But he was still sad that he can't help everyone, so I told him that I feel the same way too and that for me it helps to pray. I do believe in positive thoughts and karma making a difference in some way, but I mostly do it because I find it helps me to give away that stress and regain some perspective (I also like to bury my problems in a box or float them off on a balloon. Well, not literally but you know what I mean :) ), and I think too it helps to make a mental list like that of things you would like to fix.. and things that you are grateful for. Again, good for perspective. We sometimes fuss about our little trailer, but thinking about how many people in the world would think it was a paradise always sobers us up.
Anyway, I guess I posted this in part because I am proud of my thoughtful guy and in part because I am sad because my baby's innocence is fading faster than _I_ was ready for it to go. :)
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