I'm beginning to think (beginning?!) I'm one of those parents who trumpets on and on about the virtues of my kids to the point of everyone's utter horror. You've been warned.
Once every couple of weeks our house serves as the local Dungeons & Dragons meeting spot. Totally my son's thing. (And so NOT satanic, for anyone with concerns about that.) My son doesn't play sports (except for a bit of tennis) and while most kids in school spend their waking hours worrying about who they're going to ask out, what party they're going to, or what they're going to wear the next day, he is imagining other galaxies, creating role-playing scenarios for the next D&D session, reading science fiction books, and listening to podcasts of vintage radio shows. I love that there are at least five like-minded boys at the local high school who are happy sitting around a kitchen table playing a mind-challenging, role playing game in their spare time. And I'm more than happy to support this in the way of ample supply of Cherry Cokes, pizza, pretzels, popcorn, brownies, cookies, etc. etc. You don't know the meaning of a challenge until you've tried to keep six young men fed for a day!
If you've been following my blog you will know that my bedroom is, in fact, in my kitchen — so when the D&D boys arrive, I'm banished to one of the two upstairs rooms. On this particular night, with my girl home and very involved the social networking mecca that is her room, I was forced to hang out in my boy's pad for the evening. And let's get this straight right off the bat: I'm NOT the kind of mom who ever snoops around my kids' rooms for any reason — I vividly recall my own teenage years and would have been mortified if my mom went drudging through any of my stuff. (To her credit, she never did.) But everything in plain sight in my son's room is, well, just so incredibly cool, and speaks volumes to who he is. He is huge pieces of my highly creative, big-thinking father and introverted and artistic mother. On his dad's side he's off-the-charts smart and questions authority like his grandfather, and friendly and accepting like his grandmother. To top it all off, he's blessed with his dad's dazzling smile. What he gets from me I'll never know.
I'll write about my amazing daughter in another blog. But for now, suffice it to say God has bestowed upon me two exceptional children. I feel it my sole life's purpose to recognize and convey to them their every attribute. They must know just how much they have to offer in this world.
By the looks of the stuff in my son's room, he's well on his way.
The king and his court
Fruit of his "pointless" crafts class. Seaglass chess board. Priceless.
More than just random meaning here.
Neatly stacked Magic cards, never mind the dust.
Friends and pastimes
Apparently taking out the trash doesn't apply to his own room
Ninja guards the deck
I'm pretty sure that I still have no clue how to play D&D. Those guys amazed me. 8 hours of it and on my last turn I still had to lean over and say "uhhhh.....what do I want to do now...?" Those kids were just too smart for me!
ReplyDeleteAnd that chess board is so cool!