Boogies

Months ago, the baby was telling us about this boy in her class. Let's call him Abe...
"He picks his nose and eats his boogies."
"That's probably not true...that's not a very nice thing to say..."
"It is true."
We went to the Easter party and followed the kids while they chased down eggs, then sorted them. After the hunt, we went to the class to watch our little princess. A few kids over, Abe sat, picking his nose, eating his boogies, sure 'nuff.
Even stranger, his tongue went straight into his wee little nostril, like that of a cow. He blew his nose on his tongue, and again, it went into his nose. I'd say his tongue stayed in his nose about 85% of the time we were there. I'm being pretty generous with the 85%, too.
"Do you need a tissue, Abe?" the teacher would say. But he didn't. My husband sat, transfixed.
After lunch, we rode home.
"I couldn't take my eye's off of him," he said.
"Me neither. Do you think his parents know?"
"How could they not know? That's a really bad habit. How do you start a habit like that?"
We both tried to stick our tongues into our own noses while riding down the road. Impossible.
"Maybe you start a habit like that because you can?" Poor Abe was just a victim of an abnormally long tongue. Oops! Did I say victim? Nah. Everything we are given is something we have for a reason. Even small diversities need celebrating! Who knows, little Abe may be the lead singer in a KISS cover band one day.

When you're 16,
it's not funny when your parents pick their nose in the car.
When you're 40, it's funny that your 16 year old thinks
it's not funny that you pick your nose in the car.

The things you worry about become bigger,
the things you used to worry about, unimportant.
What a great lesson for a young person to learn,
that your worries are unfounded- none at all really.

I hope that my kids don't find themselves
in that inhibited state,
where they lose their best, most shiny moments
to fear of an imaginary monster in the closet.

God bless them, their potential is limitless!
And God bless little Abe, too.

We're all flawed. until we celebrate our flaws,
we'll be scarred by unquenched thirsts for perfection-
& regret that we didn't know we were perfect already,
until we were just too tired to do anything about it.

~ & God bless you on your journey ~