My Brave Son

The Brave One

My third husband had 3 young sons and an older daughter. The 3 young boys spent many weekends with us. My son was about 7 or 8 then and the oldest, so that meant 4 stair step boys running around trying to kill themselves.

One weekend the boys were outside playing with the neighbor kids when  there was a fight between the youngest boy and another kid. Words were exchanged as were blows. My son stepped in to defend his then step-brother and ended up with a split lip.

They all came running home to show me the blood gushing from his lip. I wanted to scream and run myself, but I had to be calm. His lip was deeply cut and I could see right away that it would require stitches. I hustled the boys into the car and we made our way to the emergency room.

I was right about him needing stitches. The doctor wanted me to hold his hand as he stitched him up. This called for an award winning performance on my part. It was hard to see my baby boy in pain, but he was stoic, mirroring my performance. I couldn't punk out after my darling son had been so brave.

That's what I wanted to talk about. How brave my boy was that day. I was so proud of how he defended his little step brother. Today he is still brave, an Iraqi veteran and father of three little girls. I am still immeasurably proud.