A BLESSING

I’ve planted myself in a lawn chair watching my older son cut the lawn. This simple action, contrasted with the place I’ve just been, seems very much a blessed event. My visit to the lawless country that is now Iraq—destroyed for 30 years by one man’s insanity—tends to put things in perspective, as they say.

So right now I’m feeling gratitude for simple things. At other times, it’s so easy for me, to view the glass as half-empty. Now, I have no problem at all seeing it as half full.

For some reason, it has always been easy for me to find fault with my older son. I think it was probably all the things he did that showed off too much of my own shortcomings were what upset me. It has taken me years of learning to do it but, blessedly, I am able to see him now for what he himself is—a wonderful young man of 21. He’s taken a year off from college and lived at home. During this time my wife and I have watched him grow a lot. He’s worked at a pizza place until recently when he started his own landscaping business.

When he instructs me in the operation of his gas-powered weed wacker, I listen. Evan is the kind of man you tend to listen to. He’s always had incredibly strong convictions, which is no doubt the same reason he and I have butted heads for years. He has about the strongest convictions I’ve ever seen in any man and, I hate to admit it, but he’s more often right than wrong.

So on my first day back from Baghdad, I have learned something invaluable. I’ve seen my first precious little boy become a man, right before my eyes.

As anyone who has grown kids will undoubtedly tell you, watch them closely, keep your eyes on the ball, because the growing up happens in the blink of an eye. And it’s not something you want to miss.