Hi buddy. Gosh I miss you.
I wanted to share a wonderful story with you. A store about the good work I am doing. I know you’d be so proud of me. Like I’m so proud to carry your life forward with me.
One of your friend's moms was telling me about her son and his commitment to WBYC. She said that sometimes it’s hard to motivate him to get moving, get going, for anything. He is, after all, a 14 year old boy. But any time there’s a WBYC event or project, he jumps up and heads out the door. Ready to go, ready to show up, ready to serve.
You might assume he wants to see his friends. Because WBYC has become quite a social group. I love when all the kids get together, work and then play, and joke around. We usually get them to focus on work for about 30 minutes, and then they are off to their own silliness. I’ll take it though. To see your friends, your brother, your brother’s friends, all come together in fun and service is just amazing.
But no, she told me. It’s not his friends he gets out of bed for, even on the raw rainy days we are scheduled to do the community trash pick up, or on the cold blustery nights we sell luminary kits. He gets up for me.
He gets up to show me that he cares. He gets up to let me know I matter. That my love for you matters. He gets up because you can’t.
Sometimes he comes home and tells his mom that he saw me smile. That he made me smile. Can you believe that? Can you believe that you have made this impact?
Because there is an impact that often goes unnoticed. We have taught these kids that sometimes, in really challenging times, all you can do is show up.
So many problems can’t be fixed. There is nothing tangible that we can do to make someone less broken, less sad. But we can stand next to them, stand with them. We can witness their pain and share in it. We can let them know they matter, just by showing up. By giving our time and our love. And that can be everything. It’s everything to me.
These kids, your friends, are doing that. They may not understand it yet. They may not understand their motivation to get up and show up. But they will someday, and they will change the world. One challenge at a time.
All because of you.
Love,
mom
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