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Speaking of bathrooms, I am reminded of another pearl of wisdom from our youngest boy. Recently, while gazing at his mother with an expression of generous benevolence, Izaak announced, “I’m not going to pee on you, Mommy, because you’re a nice lady.”
He also believes that all things belong to him, and that it is possible that he can have or be anything that he sets his mind to.
Izaak: Mom, can I be a Vanderlaan?
Mom: You became that at birth.
Izaak: Well, then, can I be a princess?
If I really wanted to, I could be a plant.
When I get to be a big boy, I want to be an excellent Chinese man.
My mother’s health has been a source of great concern for the last month or so, as we recently found out that she has stage four colon cancer and has about 18 months left to live. The sweetest gem during this otherwise bitter time has been Joseph’s statement about his Beppe’s (grandmother’s) health and what he can do to help. On the way to Elizabeth’s birthday dinner, Joseph looked up at Elizabeth with big tears forming in his eyes, and said, "I've been thinking about something. If I die young, you make sure and tell people that my liver and my colon are for my Beppe. I need an organ donor card that says, ‘These organs are for Shirley Vanderlaan.’ If I could give her my healthy organs, then she wouldn't have to die, and the whole family wouldn't have to grieve for her. You know I would be happy to die if it meant that my Beppe wouldn't have to."
Raising children can be trying at times, but the rewards go far beyond my poor power to express. I will leave you with this morsel of truth, courtesy of my son Joseph.
“Nobody in the world is more beautiful than my mother; only heaven and the glory of God.”
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