My Drewby Love

 He's always been my little love bug. He's sweet and sensitive and witty as all get out. Today this kid did me proud. In fact he spared me from an utter fail in the parenting department too.  Last Sunday he was asked to give a short talk in front of the congregation at church regarding families. We talked about it briefly that night and then got caught up in our week and didn't even think about it again. I woke him up later than I had intended to sunday morning but still with enough time to get ready and get to church 30 minutes early to help set up and prepare for the meeting. I then returned to his room 5 minutes later in a panic, "Drew you are speaking in church today! Shoot!" He sat up quickly eyes popped open and then said, "Yeah but it's on families and it's only three minutes, I'll be fine!" He turned 12 in May and this would be his very first time with this kind of speaking assignment.  I felt a little panicked.  My dad was already dressed and ready for church and one of the very best public speakers I know.  I rushed down to him and asked if he could just go over things with Drew after he was ready. No problem. I raced up stairs and proceeded to harass the other two boys out of bed, work with Brynne on getting ready and somehow manage to pull myself together somewhere along the line as well. During this time Drew dressed and readied and met my dad downstairs. He had an outline done. My dad gave him tips on speaking like look up at the audience, don't just read from a script, just know your outline so you can get from one part to the next. Drew wrote nothing else down but the outline and just thought about what he knew, felt or thought about each topic and then raced off to church with Jeff.   My parents left with Brynne, I roused my two older boys to hurry up and raced out the door myself. We all got there after the opening song, the boys came during the sacrament, but we all made it.  I sat there in my seat wondering what Drew was going to say. Wondering if he knew what he was going to say.  And then he stood up at the podium. He started with a cute little grin, shoulders back, head up and confident. He didn't read a thing. He shared his very own heartfelt thoughts in a prepared and organized way that was casual and confident.  It was sweet and sincere, his little personality shining through. I was so proud of him! I had felt so badly for not sitting down with him and helping him to organize his thoughts, talking to him about the 3T's tell a truth, a tale (a personal story) and share your testimony.  I failed on my end of the deal, but luckily he was able to fall back on what he already knew, what he felt, and his own experiences and he brilliantly pulled it off.  So he wasn't as prepared as he could have been, so he didn't make it in time to help get things set up, but in the end I'll count this as a very proud mom moment and and enjoyed the glimpse of the man this guy will grow to become.