The Untold Stories
On the Monday after Shane's wedding, the women and girls in the family who were still here went to eat at Carolyn's. Around the table, I heard and told some of the stories that were not told during the open mike time at the wedding reception.
Judy remembered that Shane was a really sweet child. He did not only sit beside you when you read him a story. He leaned his head against your arm and kept hold of it with his hand. That's Shane alright--he of the "physical touch" love language.
Someone repeated a story Dorcas told earlier. Once when she arrived home after having lived elsewhere for a time, Shane, who was quite young, very busily helped her unload her car.
"You're really a big help," Dorcas said.
"Maybe it's because I'm five," Shane (who had just had a birthday) answered.
I remembered how important Shane's friends have always been to him, especially Andrew who died suddenly when he was eleven and Shane was ten. Shane was heartbroken, and every milestone he reaches is a time for missing Andrew and trying to imagine how life would be now if he were still here. I wanted to say something of this at the wedding but I knew I could not get through it without crying, and I just did not go there. But I wrote his parents a note to let them know I was remembering.
All of us remembered how, as an infant and toddler, Shane liked most of the women in his life, but among the men, only Hiromi. Dad resorted to bribing him with candy, and Myron once bribed him with candy to get him to go on a three-wheeler ride with him. But Myron caught his knee on something in the process of getting all ready for the ride, and the resulting vocalization prompted Shane to join in with his own loud protest, and the ride was over before it started.
Shane was six months old when he was hospitalized for five days with periorbital cellulitis and had multiple shots and IV's. All the needle pokes, when he was already miserably ill, did not make him one bit more trusting of strangers.
Judy said that Leanna told her Joseph said that he thinks he'll have to quit doing basements till Shane comes back from Colorado. He doesn't know how he'll run his business without Shane. She also said that Shane was cynical about being part of a Beachy church when he first started working for him, but now he is as loyal and supportive as anyone they know.
As a baby, Shane had a foghorn voice. All you who know such babies, take heart. One day they may have a lovely bass singing voice.
Lois said one of the painters who worked on their house and knows Shane confided that he is envious of the good financial decisions that Shane has already made, and regretful that he did not do anything similar at his age.
I remembered how he had spearheaded and organized a junk metal fund raising day that netted $8,000 for his high school class, and then later donated $500 from his own woodcutting business, getting some compensation from classmates who helped cut wood on a Saturday. Shane knows how to make things happen.
I have the vague feeling that I've said some of these things in earlier blogs, but I'm too lazy to go back through them to check. Since this is my personal record of things I want to remember and savor, I am not inclined to apologize for being repetitious. This is one of the times when I'm glad that this forum lets every reader ignore or skip any part that does not interest them, with no offense to anyone else, especially not to me.
Judy remembered that Shane was a really sweet child. He did not only sit beside you when you read him a story. He leaned his head against your arm and kept hold of it with his hand. That's Shane alright--he of the "physical touch" love language.
Someone repeated a story Dorcas told earlier. Once when she arrived home after having lived elsewhere for a time, Shane, who was quite young, very busily helped her unload her car.
"You're really a big help," Dorcas said.
"Maybe it's because I'm five," Shane (who had just had a birthday) answered.
I remembered how important Shane's friends have always been to him, especially Andrew who died suddenly when he was eleven and Shane was ten. Shane was heartbroken, and every milestone he reaches is a time for missing Andrew and trying to imagine how life would be now if he were still here. I wanted to say something of this at the wedding but I knew I could not get through it without crying, and I just did not go there. But I wrote his parents a note to let them know I was remembering.
All of us remembered how, as an infant and toddler, Shane liked most of the women in his life, but among the men, only Hiromi. Dad resorted to bribing him with candy, and Myron once bribed him with candy to get him to go on a three-wheeler ride with him. But Myron caught his knee on something in the process of getting all ready for the ride, and the resulting vocalization prompted Shane to join in with his own loud protest, and the ride was over before it started.
Shane was six months old when he was hospitalized for five days with periorbital cellulitis and had multiple shots and IV's. All the needle pokes, when he was already miserably ill, did not make him one bit more trusting of strangers.
Judy said that Leanna told her Joseph said that he thinks he'll have to quit doing basements till Shane comes back from Colorado. He doesn't know how he'll run his business without Shane. She also said that Shane was cynical about being part of a Beachy church when he first started working for him, but now he is as loyal and supportive as anyone they know.
As a baby, Shane had a foghorn voice. All you who know such babies, take heart. One day they may have a lovely bass singing voice.
Lois said one of the painters who worked on their house and knows Shane confided that he is envious of the good financial decisions that Shane has already made, and regretful that he did not do anything similar at his age.
I remembered how he had spearheaded and organized a junk metal fund raising day that netted $8,000 for his high school class, and then later donated $500 from his own woodcutting business, getting some compensation from classmates who helped cut wood on a Saturday. Shane knows how to make things happen.
I have the vague feeling that I've said some of these things in earlier blogs, but I'm too lazy to go back through them to check. Since this is my personal record of things I want to remember and savor, I am not inclined to apologize for being repetitious. This is one of the times when I'm glad that this forum lets every reader ignore or skip any part that does not interest them, with no offense to anyone else, especially not to me.
posted by Mrs. I at
8:09 PM
1 Comments:
Truly you make me realize perhaps how fast my 5 and 6 year old sons may grow up. I suspect you would tell me to ENJOY each day. Somehow their weddings seem far away. Thanks for your inspirational blog.
By
Anonymous, at 8/23/2008
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