The Misfit
It didn’t take long for me to realize that Noah is not an ordinary kid. When other two-year-olds were repeating words like “cookie” and “bye-bye,” Noah’s favorite word was “awning.” “Look at that fancy awning,” he would say, pointing at striped fabric as we drove past Roper & Sons Funeral Home.
When he was five Noah developed a love of plants, particularly succulents, those funky, Zen-looking plants that belong to the cactus family (or maybe cacti belong to the succulent family, I’m not sure – clearly I haven’t listened carefully enough to Noah). While other kids his age collected Pokémon cards and Spiderman figures, Noah collected euphorbia and crassula, aloe and agave. At last count he had 31 succulents in his collection.
... There's a good lesson in this story...please join me over at Ginny's place, Make a Difference to One, to find out what I've learned from my son Noah?
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I love this story SO much. As usual, you write with humor and honesty and truth. And Noah will probably grow up to be a famous botanist and find a new tropical plant that cures cancer...
p.s. I tried to leave a comment over there, but it wouldn't let me : (
I, too, have a child that has interest that differ from main stream.. except that she like bugs, dead things, and want to be an anthropologist, preferably to solve mysteries.
She used her allowance to buy dictionaries becasue she want to know why a word is that word, and she begged her 3rd grade teacher to allow her to dress as Walt Disney when she gave a speech about him. She is creative and curious and easily moves between different groups of kids and enjoys time with what ever their interests are..
Oh! and our other one is a rule follower, no exceptions! She is headed for a career in law enforcement..
and they both are made in the likeness of our creator!
I too really enjoyed Kenison's book, but was a little disappointed that she never touched on her faith. Her journey seems to have been such a spiritual one that I kept waiting for her to talk about it in her book and she just didn't.
Also made me want to get "Mitten Strings for God" and read that one too.
Great post, Michelle.
can't you stay over here?
*grumbles about following Michelle*
I really think we are kindred spirits. I, too, want my children to be 'normal' because I'm so afraid of them getting hurt by other kids. I find it wonderful that Noah has such wonderful friends, andI thank you for sharing about your son. He sounds brilliant! I needed to hear that our kids can take care of themselves sometimes a little better than we can.
And, by the way, your Santa story cracked me up!
Michelle - I keep thinking about Noah and his "eccentric" kid ways... My 'Bud' is not always the mainstream sort of child and I fear that the rest of the world looks at him and says, "Oh, you poor boy. Homeschooling has ruined your sense of fun." Sure he likes to ride his bike, climb trees, play tag and the like. But, he skips the toys most times and doesn't know much if anything about bakugan or action figures because he wants all of his gifts and monies to be books. BOOKS of all sorts - fiction or non-fiction. He is always telling me about a new story or spouting facts and figures and giving me the homeschool education, I fear.
We were in Stillwater last week. There was a Friends of the Library book sale. We missed the first days. We arrived for $1/bag day. I spent $6. All the kids have a few new books, but 'Bud'? MORE than his fair share! I picked one up for Noah. It is about succulents. I saw it and grinned. Snapped it up and stuffed it in my bag, along with "teach yourself to crochet and knit" books (I can hope, eh?). We will be in Lincoln through the end of April. I would love to connect, say hi and get this old musty book to you!!