My warrior

Dear Life,

Our family has been dealing with mental health concerns for four years.

Over time, the concerns have gotten increasingly worse.

Last fall, everything came to a head.

Our boy was lost, his mind sort of splintered.

He started showing signs of psychosis.....seeing and hearing things that did not exist.

Our family was devastated as we watched our boy hurting so much.

There was nothing we could do to change what he was going through.

He couldn't go to school.

He couldn't play basketball.

He couldn't leave the house.

Luckily, our boy had a team.

A large team of people that cared about him.

They all circled around him even though he was not present to realize they were there.

A family.

Coaches.

A team.

School support.

Church support.

His therapist.

His team.

Slowly he lifted his head.

Slowly he started responding.

He would take a few steps forward....

And a few steps back.

He started taking more steps forward 

And less steps back.

He still has work to do.

He still has a team behind him.

And he is learning to muscle through the hard days.

Today marks 15 days of school in a row.  

A couple of the days were rough.

But he pushed through.

He's been to practice and weights everyday.

He's playing basketball.

WE ARE SO PROUD OF HIS HARD WORK.

He is a warrior.

He is my hero.

Mental Health Awareness matters.

Be kind.

Be aware of others.

Be a friend.

Love can conquer anything.

#ItTakesATeam

The day music collided

Dear Life,

Today the best thing happened.  I was listening to my playlist on Spotify (which I LOVE by the way) when my seventeen year old comes over and.....
wait for it......
ASKS me to play
WHITNEY HOUSTON!  

WHAT?????
I KNOW!!!!!!
So I let him choose the song.
You'll never guess......
I Will Always Love You.....
He turned it up loud...
As he started singing and I had to lift my chin up off the floor!
He then proceeded to tell me very matter of factly that Mariah Carey and Kelly Clarkson both said that Whitney Houston was their inspiration.
Who is this kid?????
Let me just clue you in on the fact that we like almost NONE of the same music at this time.  Although I think he secretly likes Adele but he won't ever fess up to that one.
He's still mad that he knows words to country songs since that was all we listened to for a long time when he was younger.  It irritates him that the words come unbidden.
I love being surprised by Keoni and I love that our music collided today!

Linking up over here:

A boy becomes a Man

Dear Life,

This is a big year for my oldest boy.
He's a senior in high school.
He's moving to Hawaii to go to college.
And he's recently become an Eagle Scout with the Boy Scouts of America.

He has been a Boy Scout for 6 years.  Over that time, he has camped many hours, served many hours of community service, and worked hard to earn over 25 merit badges.







He worked on an amazing Eagle Scout project; he made a wooden easel and art supply cabinet and collected art items for the Ronald McDonald House in Orange, California.

                                                                                               

























He had to serve in leadership positions within the troop for 6 months, and finally had to have a board of review with three members of the Boy Scout Council.  It was not easy.  He's a very shy young man, and he has a  bit of anxiety.  It's a challenge for him to make phone calls because he gets flustered when he doesn't feel like he knows the answers to questions.  (Usually he doesn't think to listen to the question...he blurts out "I don't know" before he figures out he might know the answer).  He had so much anxiety about having to call the person in charge of advancements to schedule his board of review he told me he wasn't going to finish.  All he had to do was have the interview.  I hounded him, we argued, and for 5 months we went back and forth with it.  Even the day of his board of review, he wanted to go back home and just forget it.  He was very nervous, but he went in there and did his best.  We were not in there with him, one of his leaders went in with him to introduce him, and then he came out and waited with us.  Keoni came out an Eagle Scout.  We are very proud of him.  His court of honor was a week ago, and I was very touched by a story told by that very leader.



 He told him that one of the Scout Council members pulled him aside afterwards, and said that Keoni really impressed him.  He said that he has seen a lot of boys and he really felt that Keoni embodied what a scout is.  I was shocked to hear this, especially after the challenge we had to get him to finish.  Mal also told us that as he was introducing Keoni, Keoni interrupted him, put out his hand and introduced himself.
Keoni ducked his head when Mal was telling this, probably thinking that he did something wrong.  I don't think he understood that Mal was letting everyone  know that Keoni is turning into a man....and he is learning to handle himself well.  That was an amazing moment for me...I knew how hard it was for him.  I am so proud of him.  It was amazing to see how many people came to see our son achieve the highest honor in scouting.  The people there all really care about him and his family.  There was no one there that felt like they had to be there..except maybe the Mayor...and I think Keoni was touched by the outpouring of love.  I know I was.  Keoni is the very first Eagle Scout in our whole family.....and I hope he is not the last.

 I know he is becoming an example to the other boys in his troop...and I hope they know how very very special this honor is.

These men have helped my son become a man..and I am so grateful!

 From...A Proud Mom of Boys!