Last month, my son, who is now 14 told me that I was allowed to come to the snow dance at school ( He is a freshman in high school) and take pictures. Anyone with a 14 year old understands the term allowed. He told me that all the parents would be there at 9 to take pictures of the snow king crowning ( sort of like homecoming). Of course I was like ok…then he mentioned to me that he is in the snow court so I might want to get there alittle earlier. My response was…uh, what? He stares at me and says, Yeah Im in the snow court and walks away. So as I’m standing there, frozen, watching him walk upstairs as if it is no big deal, my first thought is, well, ok Im not sure how this whole snow king thing works so I guess Ill find out when I go.
3 days later the snow dance has arrived, and Im at a friend’s house ( a ball party). I knew I would need to leave at 9 to run to the school, then come back to resume Moms night out. As I am driving to the school I get a call from my son, who wants to know where I am. It is 3 minutes to 9 ( gosh, what does he think, I’m always late or something?? J) So I park, run in and as I enter the hallway, he is in the middle of a group of 10 kids, 5 boys and 5 girls, getting various pictures taken, They are all wearing a sash. I take a picture of them all together, just in time for them to line up for the DJ to start calling their names as couples…as nominees for the snow king. I walk into the dance floor…turn around and everything is going in slow motion. The DJ starts to announce the nominees…and each time the boy and girl walk through the doors and the crowd of kids cheer. The DJ announce my son with the young lady nominee, and he walks through the line as the kids cheer. Im only able to get a picture of the end as there are just so many teenagers blogging my view ( move it Mom here trying to take a picture!! Geez)
They all walk up to the stage and are given flowers..and told to open the card and the card says whether they won king and queen or not. I watch and these 10 teens open their cards, and the crowd cheers as two come forward excited that they won. No, my son did not win…but I still could not take my eyes off him. He then came over to me, I got a few pictures of him with his nominees and also with his date to the dance, and then I left. I got into the car and just sat there, trying to compose myself as I was heading back to my party. I did, and returned, and then came home and stayed up all night…pretty much sitting by the computer or on the couch. At some points I wept, because as I could not sleep, his entire childhood up to this point flashed before my eyes. I just kept coming back to the night, where his peers/classmates choose 5 boys to represent the class, 5 boys who were the most popular…and my son was one of them. Now typically this is just a general feel good moment for any Parent, but to me, and our family this moment is a significant milestone… because around the age of 7, I wrote a mission preview for my son as part of an assignment … with my RDI consultant ( we were just starting RDI with my son at the time) A mission preview is also a concept listed in the book, 7 habits of highly effective people, under, habit 2, begin with the end in mind. Here it is-
2. Intermediate-Term Mission Preview: 7 years from now
14 years old- Sleepover
N knocks on the door of the youth group leaders house. S opens the door and is thrilled to see N was able to make it.
" Hey guys, I'm here, let the party begin" utters N as he makes his way over to the pool table. He instantly begins talking to a few of his friends about the night before and how a bunch of them got together and went to the hockey court to play a few games. They begin to play pool and N is one of the last three kids playing. He misses a ball and with that laughs and walks over to some of his friends. "Did you see that new movie yet N?" remarks one of his friends. "No, not yet," says N, "hey lets get a group together next weekend and go see it." They all agree. N notices a more quiet boy sitting around the group and also asks him about going to the movies. They start a conversation and N finds out that this boy just started coming out to church. He brings him into the group and makes him feel welcome. At this point the boys gather around for a lesson from. S. S talks about the pressures of approaching the teenage years and N and his friends have a great conversation with S about the challenges they face in their social life. S also introduces the new boy.
N has already met so and so and is helping him feel right at home."S comments" "I see that
but for anyone who has not gotten the chance to introduce yourself, make sure you do! They boys stay up till the wee hours of the morning eating and talking about everything boys talk about!
TEARS.....that's all I can say Rhonda
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