Some Things Just Need to Be Kept

I happened upon this little project Sammy made in 2nd grade.  The first time I saw this was sitting in parent/teacher conference.  Sammy's teacher was having all the students read their life cycle book to their parents when they came for the meeting.

"My Life Cycle"

"Me as a baby.  Then I grow."

(Cute pink bow . . . why?  He had little sisters, maybe he was thinking of them.)

"Me as a toddler.  Then I grow."  (Playing with trains)

"Me in 2nd grade.  Then I grow."  (He said it's snowboarding.)

 

"Me as a teenager.  Then I grow."  (Check out that picture.  Imagine us with that heavy we've-already-failed-as-parents feeling, sitting with this wonderful 2nd grade teacher, who we love and Sam still gives hugs, giving us an "I know, and I'm really concerned too!" look.)

"Me as a adult.  Then I grow."  (Train engineer.  At least that's some higher ideals.)

"Me as a father.  Then I grow"  (Is he cooking, or standing next to a volcano?)

"Me as a grandfather.  Then I change."

 "Me when I die."

Kind of . . . blunt.

We get home, and I'm still thinking about how my sweet (okay, not always true) little guy is figuring that when he's a teenager he's going to be in jail.  I sit down and ask him to read it to me again, only this time I ask him to tell me about all the pictures.  Of course I really only care about one page, but we work our way through the whole thing, finally getting there.  Imagine me asking in a super sweet, really worried mommy voice, "So tell me about this page, Sammy?"  

"That's me on stage, singing 'Jailhouse Rock' like Elvis."

H.U.G.E. R.E.L.I.E.F.

He really was a big Elvis fan then.  Look back at the picture and you'll notice the black hair and gold suit.  And yes, I went straight to the computer and e-mailed his teacher.