What’s the
most time you’ve ever spent apart from your favorite person? Tell us about it.
I had to think about this one for a bit
because I have more than one favorite person in my life. I mean, how can you
have just one favorite person when there are so many wonderful, diverse
individuals in this world. At any rate,
I finally settled upon writing about one of my immediate family favorites, my
13 year old son, from whom I have spent more time apart the last couple of
years than together, unfortunately. L When my first-born decided he wanted to
live in AL with his father at the “ripe old age” of 11, I understood his
curiosity and his desire to please and be there for his father. After all, he
was born on an island and had only visited the states for a month or so each
year for the first 10+ years of his life. He was naturally interested in seeing
what it was like to live in the states on a full-time basis, as well as play
contact sports like football (only flag football is allowed on base at
Kwajalein) and have all the opportunities American life affords tweens.
So, in August of 2013, we said goodbye to
my Sweet Pea (his nickname when he was little) in Alabama the Beautiful and
jumped on a plane back to our tiny coral atoll. He visited in December for the
holidays, but those first few months away were so tough. I was used to raising
two island boys, and their friends were used to there being two Jones’ boys
around to play, but now there was only one, and it was weird. There was only one set of sports games to
attend, only one child to check in when out and about on the weekends with
friends, only one child to tuck in at night and remind to brush their teeth
before bedtime. Nothing else had changed
for us…my son’s bed was still in its same spot, along with a lot of his stuff
that he didn’t take with him when he left.
The school, teachers, and children attending were all the same; the
island events and life in general continued on as usual, but it was without my
baby boy. At one point, we had some
family friends over for dinner, and their older son had to leave and go back
home after dinner because (as he shared with his mom later) it was too hard to
be there without his close friend (my son).
It has gotten easier over time to be
without him for 4-6 months at a time, but being in a whole new environment
probably helps that too….there’s not so many memories here with him (since he’s
only visited once during the summer so far), and I don’t have to see his
friends every day and miss him when looking at or chatting with them. Mostly, I just miss his shy smile, his
“mommy, I love you,” his requests for prayers and songs at bedtime, and his
amazingly courageous way of dealing with all of life’s challenges with ease. This
is a kid who can stay calm as a cucumber (whatever that really means-how is a
cucumber calm anyway?) when he’s choking
on a piece of flank steak at dinner or learning to scuba dive at age 11. Nothing seems to rattle him…which scares me
something…what’s he holding back inside?
Hopefully nothing, but either way, he’s my baby, and I miss him terribly
every day we are away from each other, and I always will.
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