Drinking from LIfe's Joys and Wonder!

#1 Godson

D'Vante drinking from the cooler of life!

Remember those water fountains, that really cold water as it went past your lips and just felt great all the way down your throat?

Or perhaps you were just so darn tickled to have your photo taken that your dimple popped as you took that drink?

Notice the dimple in my boy?

He got that from his Godmother!!!

It has turned out to be his "lie-detector" as well through the years ... whether a little fib, or a cover his butt, that dimple and those eyes have always given him away it seems!

Oh how I count on that, but it sure can win you over ... those eyes, those dimples.

Love him I sure do!

Ah, the water of life and its many joys; captured so well by the photographer there in that picture!

That's my heart alright, now preparing to graduate from

Radford High School next month in Radford Virginia!

Oh goodness,

we will be a fine mess watching those bobcats walk across that field in caps and gowns!

Wonder if they have a fountain that can hit me up with that youth and wonder and splendor as I sit and think that my heart/Godson is getting ready to graduate?

what a thought!

Handsome he sure is!

Where oh where did the time go?

He is changing, and yet somethings just remain the same.

I so wish he had passion to become a lawyer, as he does love to fight a case, a thought, to argue and have the last word!

We always laugh at him and Mom/Dot/Cob

as they are two peas in a pod; they go at each other with love, with arguments and with gusto always.

He is one fine mess, and yet he has a love of family and friends while maintaining strong opinions and thoughts. He loves to stir in opposite thoughts and to debate; he always has!

And when he gives himself permission to laugh, it is a wonderful sight and sound to behold!

Sometimes I have to step outside myself and think...

is it that D'vante, my buddy pal loves to argue, along with every other teenager since the beginning of time?

Or is it that they are desperately trying to be heard?

Remember when you were a teen?

when most of the time you were hearing why you couldn't, if only you would try harder, do more, do this or that?

When reason was a word akin to try try try, do more be more,

when a grade was assigned to self-worth?

I have to step back and wonder if misunderstandings, hurt feelings, and hard to let go of's are a result of forgetting that teenagers have a certain amount of "bravado" and in the course of raising and rearing

adults forget they are still kids in bigger bodies; still needing to hear "I LOVE YOU" often, and be hugged much.

Even in times of upset, or times of wishing we could turn back the hands of time.

Fear is often mistaken and anger is often spewed in times of that fear.

What ifs replace education.

Oh if they only came with instructions and bubble wrap!

We have to pray, to HOPE and have faith, that love etches itself like a tattoo in the heart and mind, forever and sears its permanence guiding like a beacon in the night.

From those sweet little hands and feet, to now oh so grown up with a mind that is still developing and biceps that could crush you in a hot second; he has learned to crawl, to walk, to study, to dance, to pray; and played football with his best friends. And now like so many including me, often can't see past Friday nights right along with his friends who often gather at his home and regularly look to his Mom to find, fix and to eat all that is there with gusto and speed that would boggle the mind I am told.

I just can't quite imagine a house full of teenage boys, but I remember Granny's house seemed to always be filled with the high school football team and all the family back in the days of pinto beans, fried potatoes and cornbread long long ago; 45 records on the turntable, and good times during hard times.

Friday night lights at the high school,

and gatherings.

D'Vante is wrapped up with friends, with girls that all just love and enjoy him, his personality, his swagga, his smile. His buddies all hang, they do whatever it is that guys with "swag" do;

Deion, Dashon, Hunter, Justan, Timothy... and the list continues.

And we hope he continues to teach the best of himself to his little brother Kamryn, to show the best he has learned along the way, to remember to feed the right wolf in his life as he is faced with choices, decisions with each moment, with each invitation, with each step he takes...

We pray, he plays, he is busy.

We all want to now put duct tape on him; we want to turn back time, to when he was smaller, we want to protect him from all that we can no longer control that is out there to tempt him, and to try and not think about all that he might be experimenting with or doing when he is not within sight or hearing range.

Do we forget so easily when we were teenagers?

I have to laugh at times;

thinking and hearing from all up there in Southwest Virginia

as I hear of the updates on him and his friends! It is amazing to know and to not know, sometimes the latter is better quite frankly.

As I don't take tylenol for the fever of others, it's often best to be out of the loop rather than in one that is spinning.

Remembering my own teen years, my own times of thinking myself invinsible, and letting the good times roll!

And yet, I have to remember those times were far different from these times and days as technology and prescription drugs are the new party items on the lists of so many in so many places!

A few drinks or some weed lower the defenses of kids these days; making their ability to reason and make sound decisions harder to reach once they are under the influence like in the days of old.

Teenagers have not yet finished growing, even though they think they are grown, think they know more than anyone ever will.

BUT, they don't and their brain is not yet fully developed, and that is a fact...

Synthetic drugs under the names of "incense" and "bath salts" are being sold at mini marts around the country and purchased legally; being smoked, being put in drinks and snorted ... people not realizing that they are toxic, that they are creating a chemical frenzy in the brain that leads to death and poor executive functioning in the brain.

Kids are not waking up after these parties, families are being destroyed by the results of what began as a party and ending with death.

...

Seems gone are the days of dance parties, of gathering to have good times with a few beers and spin the bottle, or bowling, fishing, hanging out at our homes, or all night dances til you drop.

Times where you could trust one another to take care of the other just in case you got a bit too drunk to do anything other than hang your head and then sleep it off safely.

c'mon now, most have been there and done it, maybe even have to rely on a friend to let them know if it was all worth it at the end!

Sometimes those experiences changed a life forever, a bad decision altered lives or made the next decison different somehow.

As adults we sometimes grow into folks who are too civilized or stuffy to remember our youth and crazy times.

Or some never experienced them at all; making it even harder to understand or comprehend those that do or have had those times or experiences at all!

Experience is a great teacher and yet we tend to forget our experiences or color them a certain way as we age; often losing sight of what is important in the now of things.

the present moment is the NOW;

we could all use a moment to honor memories, while using now

to realize that the only constant is change.

Awareness is the key to the gates of understanding.

We still forget to say those wonderful and very important things from the heart;

I LOVE YOU

I LOVE ME

I FORGIVE YOU

I FORGIVE ME

Just those four things can change lives and bring us into the NOW of our lives, the richness of our being forever.

Yes, the fountain is waiting for you to quench your thirst,

to invigorate your senses and to celebrate the rush of the NOW.

After all, IF not now, when?

the time is now

to realize that we only have NOW

to say

I LOVE YOU

YOU matter to me

I want you to make good choices

I want you to put your attitude on

and make GREAT CHOICES

I UNDERSAND you may fall, but I love you, and will use all my magic and experience to keep you from harm!
LIfe is uncertain, it is precious, as are those we know, those we love and cherish.

My Godsons; they are brothers with a bond, a love that only the two of them know in their hearts.

They are loved beyond measure, and in a place where there is no space or time; they are silly and will drive a person insane on a good day!

BUT

they are two kids that we would fight to the death for and over,

and

kids need to hear it loud and often,

I LOVE YOU

D'Vante and Kamryn

brothers

Oh how I remember us singing this at disney, how D'Vante and Kamryn would call me weeks after and leave a message singing this on my voice mail... They don't call often anymore, they are changing, growing. they are busy in their lives with their friends, activities. I have come to accept that.
But yes, they love me.
Yes, my memories sustain me in the selfish part of myself that feels I am no longer needed or valued by them, except to provide good times to them.
YES they need to take responsiblity of which they have been granted love and good times, and I am sure that they will.  It is a kid thing I suppose, but again I too was a kid, in very different times with no game stations, cell phones, and time was different then!
I didn't seem to have so many activities to be transported to, so much to do and heightened presssures or I've selectively forgotten that part!
Yes, we're goin to miss that, as the song says!
Yes there is so much to that song, my memories, my BOYZ...

I love them with a passion as strong as the sun''

 as they are drinking from the Creators never ending water fountain of life

and a family's love!

“We need to teach the next generation of children from day one that they are responsible for their lives. Mankind’s greatest gift, also its greatest curse, is that we have free choice. We can make our choices built from love or from fear.”

[Elisabeth Kubler-Ross]

We have given our children a foundation, built in love, built in faith, hope, compassion, charity, laughter, honor...

We now watch as they grow, we now must see them as they move into their lives

while knowing that free will and change is a starting to take flight.

Walk in beauty,

DRSES

www.sherryeshowalter.com