The Eagle and Child

I had a little boy once. When he was born, 10 days late, he could already hold his head up. I remember his bobbly head pulled back as I held him in the bed, and clearly, he looked at me in a worried sort of way. Like maybe I wasn't quite what he had been expecting.

On our first day alone together, he peed on me. I knew nothing about babies, but then, neither did he. We got along just fine, except for a few annoyances we had with each other that first year. He spit up a lot, and I learned to deal with it. Once, he threw up ALL over me. Yes, it was a shirt I had to pull over my head. But, he was undoubtedly a delight.

He had a long attention span for a child. Not one to flit from one thing to another, he could play for hours with his little laundry basket of toys. Blocks, stuffed animals and books. He started talking early, and never slowed down. He only occassional said something 'wrong' and then only once, but I never forgot them. Peebots for pizza. Handgummers for hamburgers. Ernie the Poop for Winnie the Pooh. Only two things terrified him: balloons and big toes. Don't ask.

This darling bright eyed boy loved to be read to. He had a few favorite books. Jesus Heals the Blind Man topped the list for years. His memory was incredible. At two he was given a very lengthy piece to say in a church Christmas program. I gasped at the length. While sitting in the car with him I read it out loud. I asked him if he thought he could learn to say that and he repeated it back to me. When I asked how he knew it already, he replied 'You just told me!' After he said his piece at the progam, the audience was awed. When we got into the car to drive home, he turned to me and announced 'Theeeeey LIKED me!!'

He liked to draw. I still have a particular picture that he drew. When I discovered it I was startled, as it looked like a picture of a lynching. A big white guy had a little black guy on the end of a rope. With great trepidation, I asked him what the picture was about. His reply, 'It's a marionette show!'.

Reading came easy for him. By the time he started school, he could read whatever interested him. Books about dinosaurs made way for books about talking animals that he assured me I would love. Most of the candid shots I have of him, his face is hidden in a book.

After middle school, the two of us began an adventure in home schooling. His former middle school asked him back to play Aslan in the play 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'. This began years of acting in plays. My favorite is his portrayal of Mr. Edward's in 'Little House on the Prairie'.

When he applied to college, I just had to guess at a grade point average, as we didn't use grades and he hadn't taken any tests. I guessed 3.8, due to the fact that he never really finished his Spanish course completely. His first college report card came in the mail bearing a grade point average of 3.8. I saved the one with the 4.0 that came later. I felt I had earned it. He begs to differ. He won a Dorothy Sayer's scholarship for English.

He married. Someone beautiful and kind who shares his love of Lewis and Tolkien. Presently they are both studying in Oxford, England. This week they had lunch at The Eagle and Child. The 'Bird and Baby' Lewis and Tolkien and the other Inklings frequented.

The Eagle and Child. My child.

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