Friday, December 2, 2011

Moving On


Went into Rojo's room two nights ago and there on his mini-trampoline, lying face down, was a framed picture of him at age two. Actually it's one of those frames with places for three pictures, and it captures him in rapid succession being all two - darling. Not a lot to love about him at that age, but I have always loved those three shots, because they remind me that although my memory tells me he was nothing but a pain-in-the-ass, he did have his moments. Three of them are captured for all eternity.

When I asked Rojo why he took the frame off the wall, he just said, "I didn't want it up there anymore." I took it down to live in the basement with all the other things we have framed and don't want on the walls anymore.

Yesterday I walked into his room and all but two of the framed pictures of himself that have been on his dresser for years, were turned towards the wall. The two that remained facing forward, was a darling picture of his godparents, Tom and Nancy, and a Bible verse my mom gave him when he got baptized in April. The ones now facing the wall were all of him as a baby or toddler. I turned them around again, just to see what he'd do. Sure enough, went in his room this morning and those same ones were turned towards the wall again.

I asked him, "Why do you keep turning the pictures of you around?"

"I'm sick to death of them," he said.

In all these years he's never said boo about what he wants his room to look like, what he wants on the walls, what kind of comforter cover he wants, what color the walls should be, the arrangement of the furniture, nothing. It's as though he's now looking around his space with different eyes, teenage eyes, growing up eyes, moving on eyes. And with tears in mine, I took all the smaller pictures down to the basement, too, and closed that door.

4 comments:

kario said...

Oh. I have tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat. This hit me where it hurts today. I'm feeling some separation anxiety from Eve who is leaving straight from school today for a weekend in the mountains with her best friend's family. I won't see her again until Sunday night and I had such a hard time dropping her off at school this morning.

In one sense, I am so heartened by Rojo's ability to be decisive about what he wants. In another, I'm terribly curious what is going through his head when he sees those photos.

Love.

fullsoulahead.com said...

Gulp.

: (

But at the same time, you go Rojo.

Elizabeth said...

Wow. Rojo -- the wisest old soul ever written about on the internets. With the most amazing mom, I'd add.

Leslie at SugarAndSpiceADK. said...

I told you, woman: If you stop feeding your children, they never grow up!! Sheesh, guess you didn't listen very well. But really, ROJO is growing up so fast! Love you...

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