September, When it All Starts Again
David and I went to our friends’ house where eight or nine kids were hanging out.My girl Carrie was with me and her two babies too - Chris had stayed behind to catch a little alone-time.
Most of these kids have at least heard of Carrie since they're in the youth group I work with. Her mini-boys they did not know but My, were they nice to them! They picked the littlest guy right up and began conferring with him. The high school freshman invited the four-year-old onto the tennis courts for some fun. He is also the man with the musical instrument shown underneath here which he graciously allowed them both to bang away on.
One guy, the eldest of the crew, is about to leave for his first year at the University of Chicago. When he was little we all went on the kind of intergenerational family retreat where the kids typically play so hard they lose their voices on the first night. Steven was just a baby then and one whose momma had to be absent for the wholel of the Saturday owing to the fact that she was getting licensed in Air and Sea Rescue. His dad had pulled out his guitar and was singing for us all while one-year old Steven stood beside him and for a good 40 minutes wailed "P-P-P-Put it Awaaaaaaaay!”
When I look at Steve now I see this gifted kid, this writer of fugues this boy who taught himself Latin and actually won a prize for mastery over it when he took the national exam. It won’t surprise me to hear that he one day holds the patent for the Brain Self Surgery. But I also see the child of 20 months who wanted his father to stop playing for all these strange grownups and just comfort him in his yearning.
Over the years he became big brother to three others. One of them I know pretty well already through the church youth group; one I hope to know within a few weeks since he has just arrived in the upper echelons of middle school and will soon be part of this same entity. Several of these others will be there soon as well and that's the real beauty of this most beautiful month of September if you ask me: the way school starts again and here are all these wonderful young people with their kindness and their sense of fun and there fine clear vision.
