Skip to main content

A Letter to My Son




This is my grandson (I know. He's pretty dang cute, right?)

His daddy, my son, posted a picture of him on Instagram with a caption stating that he could not love this baby any more. What he doesn't know, what he can't possibly know right now, is that he will...




Just wait, my dearest son, just wait.

When his kindergarten teacher mistakes his inability to sit still for rebelliousness.
When she pulls you aside on a daily basis to tell you all that he's done wrong that day.
When she gives him eleven demerits in just three hours of school.
When she keeps him in from recess day after day, although recess is what he needs most in his structured day.
When he's in trouble so often that you find him lying on his bed sobbing and wondering why God made him, and he says, "I should just kill myself" - in kindergarten.

And your heart breaks.

When his best friend finds a new best friend.
And your heart breaks.

When you walk by his 5th grade classroom, and the teacher is using his name in a derogatory sentence under the guise of teaching sentence structure.

And you are infuriated beyond words on his behalf.

When his heart is broken.
And so is yours.

It seems impossible now to love your son more than you do, but life will happen, and when it does, you'll be there for him, and you will fight for him to believe in himself, to stand tall, to succeed when others can't see success. You will be his greatest warrior, defender, example, and the one who trains him to make his way in this world without you. And each moment, each event, each circumstance will cause your heart to expand and the roots of your love to reach deeper into your soul.

You're right. You can't love him any more. But you will. Unbelievably, you will.

Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 25, 2016 at 9:34 PM

    I hate the choices for reactions. Really, that's all they could identify as a reaction to such an endearing post? "funny, interesting, cool". How about "perfect"!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lori GalaskeMay 26, 2016 at 3:38 PM

    I'm humbled by your response. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Believing the Lies

My husband and I recently watched The Help - a story about a group of African American women who worked as maids in Jackson, Mississippi in the '60s. One of the protagonists works for a woman "who got no b'ness havin' babies." This woman, this family maid and nanny, tells her little two year old ward regularly, "You is pretty. You is smart. You is impor'ant." How difficult it is for us to believe that about ourselves - really, to believe anything good about ourselves. I always try to be my raw self when I write a blog post. Today is no exception. So I confess that I've been drowning in a storm of lies lately. My head knows they're lies, and I could easily tell anyone else in the same place that they're lies, but I haven't been able to get a grip. There have been so many of them coming at me at once. It seems that I just break the surface, gulp some fresh air of truth then get pulled back under. One thing I know: the enemy of our ...
7 comments
Read more

Tricia's Return (my first ICL assignment for 13-17 year olds)

I stormed down the hall and slammed the door. I’d had enough! Dumping my books out of my backpack, I began shoving in clothes – anything I could grab. I dug through the junk on the floor of my closet and found my stash – my life’s savings. I shoved it on top of my clothes. In the midst of this frenzy, I heard a soft knock on my door. "Tricia?" It was my mom. “What now?” I couldn’t keep the anger out of my voice. She was just going to launch into another tirade. Her list of my shortcomings was endless, and I didn’t want to hear them anymore. I didn’t open the door; I climbed out my window, backpack in tow, grabbed my bike and took off for the bus station. Jeremy didn’t know I was coming. He’d be so surprised. I couldn’t wait to see him! We’ve been together for a year; but since his family moved to St. Louis four months ago, we haven’t seen each other. We haven’t even been able to talk much He'd made the varsity soccer team; and with all the games and practices, he hadn’t h...
2 comments
Read more

How Do You Wait?

The barren one is now in her sixth month.  Not one promise from God is empty of power  for nothing is impossible with God. Luke 1: 37 The Passion Translation I've never thought that much about Elizabeth. Gabriel speaks here to Mary - the mother-to-be of none other than GOD Himself! Who has a thought to spare for this side character in THE story of divine visitation? God come to earth. Wow. Talk about a headline for the New York Times! Why does Gabriel even mention Elizabeth? I don't know, but I'm glad he did.  I read these verses with a different perspective this morning.  "The barren one." Elizabeth is now past childbearing years. It's not a secret. Everyone in her community knows she's barren (it's obvious). The life part of her life is over. There is no hope for her to have her dream - a life like her friends have. She's different from her family, her neighbors. In a time when children are everything, she has nothing.  And now it's too late...
1 comment
Read more