A Moment of Ben

Oh my Ben... my sweet adorable unique little Ben. My baby in every sense of the word. This weekend I was cleaning up and throwing out some stuff that the boys had out grown and came across some things that were all Ben - and it crushed me that he had grown out of them. My pack rat mother side wanted to gather these few things put them away for a later time when I would pull them out, oooh, ahh and cry, much to the dismay of the future teenage version of Ben. But the logical side of me said - no - you don't really care about that ratty ole t-shirt or smelly shoes - rather - what the represent.
You see - this was when Ben became B-E-N. Like I wrote in a couple of posts ago - there are those times in kid's lives when it is not just another milestone or developmental or gender marker - but something that resonates in the soul of the child and you see true personality traits come shining forward. For Ben - it was when he got this t-shirt followed quickly with the discovery of the shoes.



You see - Ben loved playing with toy instruments - especially guitars -



and he didn't just play with them - he ROCKED with them. He would come downstairs - turn on the classic rock station on our radio and JAM with what ever song was on the radio - complete with lead guitar moves and lower lip biting intensity. When we saw this t-shirt in the store - it screamed Ben. He wore it all the time. Then a few weeks later, we were in the shoe store when HE found he vans - "LOOK MOMMY!!! THEY MATCH MY COOL ROCK 'N ROLL T-SHIRT!!!!!" And so it began - my cool rock and roll son, with his cool rock and roll t-shirt - torn jeans - and matching black vans. An image he strutted with pride was forming.

So like the wings on the guitar - it is time for these smelly things to fly away... but the first memories of my little rocker are burned in my mind forever....