“Did You See What Michael Did?” (TJEd)

This was not a statement of one brother tattling on another. This was a statement of pride and appreciation, coming from our nine-year-old son in reference to his four-year-old brother.

We were at the park, gathering together with our usual once-a-week playgroup. This group, in some form or another, has been meeting up for about a year and a half now. We’ve got a nice core of families, and have been very happy to have a couple of additional families add into the mix in the past few months. It’s something I look forward to each week, because I get to sit down and chat with some of the smartest women I know. Moms from varying backgrounds, each with an impressive educational and/or professional background (except for me), each committed to homeschooling their children, and each feeling somewhat a “minority” in our larger community of neighborhood “church-goers” and “homeschooling for religious reasons” folks. We have tended to “band together” for support and encouragement. This is one of the most lovely and brilliant groups of ladies I have ever had the privilege of knowing and associating with.

But, I digress. Our mom with the largest brood had just arrived, and one of her younger girls had taken off toward the playground, forgetting that there were several steps down from the picnic table area. She took a dive down the steps onto the concrete sidewalk, and was crying. Mom was juggling several other children, including an infant, and was doing her best to get down to the injured child, although was somewhat waylaid. When I looked up, Mike (4) was right there next to the little girl, holding her hand, and looking concernedly into her little face, talking to her, clearly doing his best to comfort her until mom arrived. My tender mommy heart could have burst.

Crisis resolved, that’s when Tom came over to me, almost imperceptibly whispering “Did you see what Michael did?”, wanting to point out to me what a great little guy his youngest brother was. "Wasn't that great?". My tender mommy heart just about burst again…