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Proud


The phone rang.
"Hello", I answered.
"Hi Mom", his voice replied.
My sons new big boy voice. My heart leapt, love seeping into every cell and creasing my face with joy.
"I've made a decision", he said. "I am done trying to be someone else. I am not my Dad. I am not just a Jennings. I am Owen and Owen is special. I have been bullying myself for a long time and bullies make you feel small. I am not a punk or a bully. I am special as I am." I choked back the tears rising into my throat. He went on, "I used to believe that God made all your choices for you. Now I believe that I have a will of my own and I can cast my own vote. I have decided to chart my own course and follow my own destiny. I can be an ordinary person or I can be a great man. I will be a great man by following my heart." My grin threatened to break free of my face and dance with the hummingbirds gathering red liquid from a feeder nearby. "I feel as if I have been on a great ship, lost in a typhoon for a very long time and now the storm is over, the sea is calm and I can see for miles around. I am going to chart my own course now, but I will always come home to you and I will always come home to my Dad." I cried now, swallowing the salty foam of sea spray and purpose. He was suddenly a man talking of politics and war, philosphy and hope. I was breathless. "I am gonna go now mom. Oh, by the way. I am not going to be mean to you on the phone anymore. It is time to end that Ice Age. I love my mom and that is that. Talk to you soon."
He is seven.
I am proud beyond the scope of words.

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