Kindred Spirits

During the Christmas holiday my Father, Stepmom and two brothers came for a few days. It was bliss and I actually cried when they left, as our opportunities to see them are too few and far between.

Something neat happened when they were here however. Eazy found his "Grandpa". Since coming to our house Eazy has met various family members and has been polite and warm to all of them, but from the minute my father arrived for Eazy's first meeting, Eazy was ecstatic.

We were in an upstairs bedroom when my parents pulled up. Being silly and knowing that they could not hear us, I told Eazy that we should wave and say, "Hi". So we did. At that exact moment, my father looked up and spotted us in the window. Eazy happily exclaimed, "He heard me! He heard me!"

A little concerned about how he would feel with meeting four new people all at once, I asked him if we should go down and say hello. He bolted for the stairs and hit the door at the same time my parents did.

"Hi! I am big, tall Eazy!" he said to my Dad and instantly embraced him. He was just as excited to meet my stepmother and brothers.

For the next four days Eazy rarely left my father's side. He held hands with my dad when we went to a museum, was upset when my Dad did not go into the "Children's Room" at the museum, sat on his lap anytime my father sat down and wanted "Grandpa" to help him with whatever was urgent at the moment. It was the sweetest thing I had ever seen.

Eazy is a shy little boy. The six weeks or so that he has been here has opened him up quite a bit, but he still has a bit of a wall around him. Normally you have to invite him to sit with you and offer a hand for him to hold. My father was able to step right over that wall in an amazing way.

I have decided that these two are kindred spirits. Both had their world torn apart and were put into the care of "the County". Both were unable to live with their mothers and had a hard time understanding why. Both had to build a wall at a tender young age to survive reality.

My father was in foster care for 6 years of his life (from 8 until 14), and will tell you that it was the best thing for him. He had great foster parents and did very well with them. He grew to be a wonderful man. Despite this however, he was taken from 5 of his 8 siblings (three were with him in his foster home), not allowed to live with his family and suffered the indignity of being in a "welfare home". He knows Eazy's plight better than anyone. Eazy seemed to know that as well.

Eazy has found his Grandpa, and I could not be more overwhelmed with gratitude and amazement at how the Lord will use an unfamiliar face to enrich a little boy's life.