Last year my son Johnny sent me a text message in the middle of the day asking me to come pick him up from school as he didn't want to be there anymore as he recieved some bad news about a friend of his reguarding some medical tests that this friend was waiting on. For Johnny to ask me this I knew it had to be serious so I told him I would call the attendants office and tell them he had a Dr. appointment that I forgot to write a note for and he could tell me about what was going on when I picked him up.
I drove to the school not knowing what was coming or what Johnny was going to tell me but hoped for the best and expected the worst, and walked into the office where Johnny was waiting for me, signed him out and off we went to the parking lot.
Outside he broke into heart wrenching sobs and explained to me what was going on, I am not getting into what was wrong with this child as that is not my story to tell my story is about Johnny how he handled this and what my reaction to this was .
My heart broke for my son , the pain, fear and hopelessness he felt for a friend who was going through a hard time and for the family of this kid and what they must face for their loved one as well. I, being just a mom could only relate to Johnny on such a level and in this situation I felt he needed a man to talk to and with Billy being at work and only having a cell phone available would not work in this situation. There is nothing worse than spilling your heart out to someone only to hear them say "What? Sorry I am in a bad area and I can't hear you can you repeat that?" Not Billy's fault at all it is just the way it is and I knew once he came home he of course would be the man Johnny could turn to if he needed that, but I felt right now he needed to talk to someone. So like any good Mother I called the next best thing, my father.
I explained the situation to my father and he of course wanted to talk to him from a "Man's" point of view so I went upstairs and gave Johnny the phone so he could talk to him in privacy without his mom watching and about 15-20 minutes later he came down , handed me the phone and I saw he looked a little less worried about his friend and told me he was going out for a little bit. I talked to my dad and thanked him and chatted for a little bit and then hung up glad I could count on him in times like these.
In the weeks that followed I saw my son be a really good friend, a caring and concerned friend and someone you could really count on and trust and it made me proud to see what kind of man he was turning into.A man not afraid to show his emotions when he was hurting, not afraid to ask for help, and one that included his family in his thoughts and feelings. I think sometimes as men are growing up sometimes they are tought that to cry,to show fear, to show hurt, or any emotion is considered weak and unmanly. I think to show emotions and ask for help when it is needed is the stronger thing to do as you are showing that you too are Venerable and are after all just a human, a person who needs other people too.
This child had a hard time of it and I prayed for them and their family everyday that god would make them better, give the family the strength they needed and the support and love that would help see them through and I am happy to report that they are all doing good and god willing they will be in good health for a long, long time.
The thing though that really struck me, and made my son my hero is during this child's course of treatment my son and all his friends got together on a Saturday or a Sunday afternoon and as a sign of friendship, support ,love and in my opinion heroic behavior they took turns shaving each others heads so this child wouldn't be alone. When he told me they were doing this my heart stopped and I actually cried from the thought of all these kids so full of love for one another that as a group they would do this together. It also showed me a side of him that had a situation like this not come up I would never have seen in him. I am so proud of him and his actions and how he loved and supported his friend during this most difficult time in their life. What a wonderful person he is becoming , what a great man he is turning into.
My son, turned into my hero on that day with his freshly shaved head and his broad silly grin on a cold winter day in 2010 .
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