This past Sunday, my oldest son, Robert, turned 20.
Twenty..
He’s an adult now.
It may take a while for that to sink in.
As my dad would say “he’s a grown man.”
Yep, he’s not little “Robert James” any more.
But, in my mind he is…
I can see his mom pulling him to church in his red wagon that Paw Paw and Maw Maw Potts had given him for Christmas. The church was just up the road from our house so she didn’t have to go far. Ha!
I laugh when I think of his fascination with his Houston Astros cap that his “Huncle Hemmitt” (his name is “Emmette” but Robert put that “h” in front of it.) brought him back from Houston. He wore that cap 24/7.
And, I chuckle when I think of taking him to his first day of kindergarten in Brookhaven. As I put him out I thought “well, he’s gone.. he’ll never be home during the day again.” He was only 5! It wasn’t like he was going off to college. But in my mind, he may as well have been.
Robert has brought his mom and me lots and lots of happiness.
He became a Christian during a revival meeting when Dr. Darrell Robinson was preaching. When I got home from church that night, his mom had let him stay up to tell me that when Dr. Robinson “prayed that prayer” he had “prayed with him.” In doing so, my son had asked Jesus into his heart.
He grew up in Vancleave. He was blessed to have been able to go through elementary, middle and high school in one school system. When we moved to Dallas, he wanted to remain behind and finish school there. It stretched us some but we did it and don’t regret it.
In the past two years Robert has been growing up. He spent a year at LSU as manager of the fast pitch softball team then, came to Dallas to be with us. He is working and going to college. In the past year, he has worked at Dick’s Sporting Goods at Kennessaw. He recently received a promotion to “front end lead supervisor.”
Robert is a very compassionate young man. He cares for people. He doesn’t want to let anyone down. If he is told to do something, he tries to do it. He has a good work ethic. He has gone in to cover for people who have called him at the last minute. And, at times, I’ve felt like his “good heartedness” has probably been taken advantage of but, he goes anyway.
As a dad, I’m proud of the man he is becoming.
Happy birthday, buddy. I know you’re 20 but you will always be my little “ball game watching buddy to me.”