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Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Good Influences


picture of Austin, Trevor, Dillon, David and Hans...shamelessly stolen from Facebook
 Today I'm grateful for people in my children's lives who influence them in wonderful ways.

Saturday night we attended the Eagle Court of Honor for David, Hans, Dillon, Trevor and Austin.  Five boys Braeden and Mark look up to.  David and Dillon are four years older than Braeden and he has esteemed them, along with Hans, as heroes I think since he met them.

picture of Dillon...shamelessly stolen from Facebook
Dillon lives close to us and he and Braeden went on bike rides, destroyed old electronic equipment, and played video games together. (Dillon would provide Mark with a broken video game controller so he could "play" too.  Mark was young enough that he couldn't tell the difference.  I was old enough to know Dillon was a genius.)

Braeden and Dillon nearly seven years ago...I did not steal this picture from Facebook.
I felt a little worried sometimes when Braeden was nine and Dillon was thirteen that the day would come that Braeden would be way too young and a menace to Dillon.  I was afraid Braeden would end up with a bruised heart.  It never happened.

I remember seeing Braeden when he was twelve at his first youth church activity.  He was of course glued to Dillon's sixteen year old side.  He hit Dillon at about his elbow.

It was about that time that they gradually hung out together less.  But Dillon never, ever was unkind to Braeden, never blew him off, never stopped being his friend.

How can a mother not love the boy whose heroism never dimmed in her son's eyes?

picture of David and Hans...shamelessly stolen from Facebook

Since our families are close, we've spent various holidays and evenings together with David and Hans.  They treat younger Braeden with the kindness of an equal.  They laugh at his jokes and hear his ideas.  I know enough to know how rare this is; how good these boys are.

It meant a lot to me to see these five boys, who Braeden has grown up with and watched and tried to emulate, achieve their Eagle awards.  It made me grateful for good examples.  Grateful for kind boys.

Glad for heroes.

(And speaking of heroes, I'm going to keep following Susie and Janet and Stephanie around so I can learn how to raise such good boys.)

A picture of happy mothers...shamelessly stolen from Facebook.  What is with me stealing pictures.  Is nothing sacred?

5 comments:

Olivia Cobian said...

Those moms look very energetic to me. Is that what happens when your kids are older? You get more energy? I can't wait.

Hammond Family said...

We are lucky to have such wonderful youth in our ward and parents too! Thank goodness for good examples to look up to.

Susie said...

Thanks for your sharing your kind words it really touched my heart. We are all here together to lean on and help each other, along the way in raising our children. I'm very grateful to have your family as wonderful examples too!! Keep up the great job your doing in raising your sweet kids!!

Janet said...

I'm grateful for a friend who saw my need and sacrificed her time at the court of honor to entertain my discontented toddler. I am grateful for another friend who shared his photography talents with us that evening as well . . . not to mention all the help you both rendered in the kitchen. Thanks again you two!

Marianne said...

What a great post. I liked seeing pictures of those boys.

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