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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: GENTLE (10/21/21)
The day he was born I fell in love.

I was unmarried, in the final year of my university education and pregnant. When I first knew I was pregnant all I felt was dread, anger (at myself) and a sense of loss. What was I to do?

“I’ll give him up for adoption,” I told the father, my parents and friends.

Except I didn’t. I chose to raise him.

Those first years were tough, and the African proverb, “It takes a village” was quite literally true for me. The in-home day care lady kept my son overnight when I had to take my final examinations. Friends offered to babysit so I could get the rare afternoon off.

From the beginning I knew my son was exceptional. Another saying, “An old soul,” could have been written about him. Small in stature, he is big in heart. I joke often that when I grow up I want to be just like him.

We moved countries. I got married and my husband adopted this firstborn son of mine. Years later, when our son was 15, his father and he had a terrible row. His father was firmly in the wrong, but he just wouldn’t back down. I tried to intervene with little effect. In exasperation, my son picked his father up in a fireman’s lift and walked him around the house, his father pounding him on his back, “Put me down!” The ridiculousness of the situation was not lost on any of us, and we dissolved in laughter, and an apology was forthcoming.

He skipped a grade so was always the youngest in his class, but also always the shortest. He wrestled through high school and won the State Championship. One day, when he was a sophomore, he was walking through the halls with his friends. A large senior threatened to beat him up. My son looked up at him, and said very gently but firmly, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” and walked away.

He is in his 30s now, and forging a path unique to him. In 2017 he and two others founded a company that has revolutionized how medical facilities are staffed. Through all the tensions of 2020 and 2021, he has kept the company on track, never losing his temper, and never being harsh or selfish.

He is Galatians 5:22-23 personified.

And when I grow up, I want to be like him!

https://www2.staffingindustry.com/Editorial/Daily-News/SnapNurse-revenue-reaches-350-million-in-Q1-company-reports-it-is-on-track-to-hit-1.5-billion-by-year-end-57180
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This article has been read 176 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
Laurie Glass 
10/28/21
What a smart and steady young man. I would think many would want to be like him when they grow up.
Marlene Custer 
10/31/21
I love your story! It is truly an inspiration.
Verna Cole Mitchell 
10/31/21
I love the sentences your well told story hinges on: The day he was born, I fell in love--I'll give him up for adoption--Except I didn't--When I grow up, I want to be just like him. I'll echo the last one!
Mariane Holbrook
11/02/21
Oh, my!! What a beautiful, sensitive, well-written piece. This son is fortunate indeed to have the mother he has, who knew that the sanctity of life was more important than her convenience at the time of his birth. I hope he reads this sometime and gives extra thanks to the dear mother who raised him well and encouraged him to be the very best he could be. What a rare glimpse into a mother's heart of love! So well done! This surely will place high.
Shann Hall-LochmannVanBennekom 
11/08/21
I can relate in many ways. I had my first child young and my husband adopted her and she has turned into an incredible person too. This is a lovely memoir. Congratulations on ranking 14 overall. Happy Dance!