in the middle

I don’t write about him as often, it seems – and I possibly realized why when I was looking through some pictures just now.

It’s not because I don’t have as much to say about him: he is as much of an original as any of the Joneses. Kind and smart, this boy who will soon be as tall as me will one day pass us all, I believe. Even his very tall daddy. And yet inside his frame rests a heart that sees both the beauty and ache of this world. He is keenly aware of things that others hardly notice.

Like many middle children, I sometimes think he works all the harder to make the world his own. Born into a family that could not be more casual, he requests a suit for Easter. He asks me theology questions and is certain there is a right and a wrong way to do things. He will always surprise me. I wonder, often, what he will be. Whatever it is, it will be amazing, and nothing that I expect.

No, it is not for lack of words that he is not as often my sole subject, but for one simple thing: he is careful. And so, I must be too.

These were some of the pictures I came across today:

And, if you know my husband, you know there are three masks and definitely three luchadors on the beach that day. The pictures are hilarious, but the only way we got them at all was to make a promise to one luchador ahead of time. In his words; “I will put it on if you will promise that you won’t post any of these pictures online.”

As I was getting ready to blog about those pics, I remembered his words. I’m sorry that you can’t see them all – but I am grateful because it captures up so much of what I love about him. That he’s always thinking, that he absolutely knows his family, and that he is hilarious – but you have to get to know him before he’s gonna let you see it.

I’m so glad he’s smack in the middle of us.