Well....how about them apples?.....

So goes the old saying of my Dad!  I can't believe I figured out how to put a picture on my blog!!  I didn't have to pester Sara, who probably rues the day she ever invited me to her home and helped set up my blog- but I so appreciate her!  It wasn't in the original plan, I wasn't interested in or wanting, to put pictures on my blog but this one I couldn't resist sharing!

This is the brainchild of the inventive creative imaginings of my son's mind!!  He works for CAT and is a design engineer.  This is his latest invention.  It's been designed, tested in prototype, is in the field and will soon be manufactured and you can see my boy's "thumb" all over the place.  The World!!! 

When I saw this computer generated drawing showing the thumb, I teared up!!  This does not look like something that would evoke that emotion but it did!  My mind surged back to his birth and his childhood and his insatiable curiosity for how things worked.

The first time I became aware that he wanted to know the inner workings of things was when he was around 4 and I found, by mishap, that he'd removed the screws from my kitchen stepstool but managed to keep the steps in place.  It appeared normal until I stepped on it and about broke my neck! 

When his quest to explore would surface, he would get a very inquisitive serious look on his face.  If possible he'd pick the object up and scope it out.  When his sister got a toy called Larry the Lion, with a pull string, that let Larry say a few words....he got the look and picked it up.  We told him he could not cut it open.  When I got my first sewing machine, his face lit up, and again he was told he could not even touch it, as he reached for it!! 

We bought him a book when he was 8.  A thick book, which he still has, about how things work.  It was fascinating to him!  I think it just increased his curiosity.

And he loved the dump!  Okay.  That sounds disgusting and disgraceful that a Mother would let a child do that, much less own up to it.  But I did and he did and he loved it!  He'd haul a wagon and bring back junk that he'd tear apart, rebuild, make new inventions. (Our little Alaskan town dump was small.  Not that it's any more sanitary but... oh, I don't know.  There is really no excuse.  He went and I knew he went.  guilty.)

He had a rectangular bedroom that was the width of a twin bed but pretty long.  The bed was built up under a window and at the far end.  The light switch was by the door.  The furthest point away. (please.  don't ask why!  that's another story of house building!!)  He liked to read in bed- so he invented a string pulley system that enabled him to turn his light off and never move from the bed!  Genius!

He rebuilt engines. Puttered endlessly.  Built intricate model airplanes and never peeked at directions. Pored over catalogs.  Puzzled and explored anything with moving parts.  Invented and designed things on paper. 

After his mission and now a newlywed and excited about getting on with more of his education at BYU & right before school started, he was hit while riding his motorcycle, by a car that ran a red light.  Tough times.  Brain Surgery.  A scary thing when they take out part of your son's brain!  Dr.'s say....He might this.  He might that.  He might never this.  He might never that. Perhaps. It could be. We aren't sure.  We don't know. Time will tell. We hope.

Terry flew from Alaska to Utah. The first thing he said to his Dad when he came to was....Dad, I need a blessing.  I'm hurt. Real bad.

As he started healing he wanted his Dad to climb in the hospital bed and be by him.  Questioning and frightened he wondered if his brain was still working.  Was he still able to think?  What about his future? ...Dad, can I do math still?  My career is in my head..... Then he started reciting equations/formulas to his Dad.  For seemingly hours!  That was terrific reassurance. He was blessed to heal relatively fast in what was still the long haul of recuperation .

Today these memories surfaced in my mind and my Mother heart was tender and soft towards Greg.  I felt gratitude for his accomplishments. The Thumb meant a lot to me! 

I always look and think of things, that I wish I'd done different, to help my children become their very best selves.  With my, now perfect hindsight vision, I always see myself lacking.  I wish someone had said this to me....so I'll say it to you--

As encouragement to each of you Mothers with children still living at home... Children arrive in families as very distinct individuals with marvelous skills, abilities and talents, nestled quietly below the surface, as latent seeds.  Watch closely for little buds. Project ahead and ask- if that trait were to grow and expand, would it be productive and soul satisfying to my child?....If so?- then water it and help it expand.  If not?- nip it in the bud!

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      (surely I hear a drumroll in the background!  ta-dum!)

The Thumb!!!