Walking To Seminary In Silence...Almost.

Wally and I walked up to the main campus of the Seminary where my wife and I are currently enrolled.  It was a lovely evening so I thought I'd try it.  Going on walks with Wally is always a risky thing because he's very fast, and likes to wander and sometimes doesn't like to turn around.  Now that he's bigger and stronger, if he gets upset and starts kicking or head butting, you could be a mile or more from home with a bloody nose or worse and have to carry home 30 pounds of flailing, screaming, angry boy.  But the weather was nice...so I took the risk.

Up, up, up the hill we went in silence.  When we got to the top of the hill this lovely flower arrangement of our school acronym GCTS appeared and Wally headed straight for it as soon as he saw it.  I guessed that he wanted to play in the mulch so it was a good thing bath time was next.  I sped up so that I'd be right next to him in order to at least minimize any destruction he might inflict upon the wonderful landscaping.  As he got to the edge of the letters I picked him up, and carried him 20 feet down the slope to try to get him to start heading back home.  As soon as his feet touched the grass he turned and headed back toward the letters.  So much for going home.  As he got to the wood chips I got him in a bear hug to try to at least stop his forward progress.  He gently pushed my arms down and got right next to the "G".  

Wally headed off to his next adventure after mastering G, C, T and S.

I waited to see what he'd do.  He was moving very carefully and obviously deep in thought.  Finally the silence was broken with a loud, clear, joyful "G!" Then he crowed,"C!" and carefully stepped over the next letter and continued to say each letter.  It was a beautiful moment that I tried three times to capture on video but the best one I get was this one.  You can hear him say: "C. T. S." right at the beginning. 

I'm glad I went on this mostly silent walk with my son.  His language struggles are difficult for our family every day limiting what we can understand about his needs, wants, joys and frustrations.  But they're also part of his uniqueness as we both learn to communicate in other ways.   He's also making progress in his language skills every day.  

Wally doesn't talk much, but he says a lot in other ways.  He is obviously delighted anytime we can go outside.  He loves exploring the outdoors and investigating water and mud and stones and mulch and sand and...   I never know where we'll end up when we head out, but I know I'll see and discover new things precisely because we are not talking, just observing and listening and enjoying the outdoors.  One day I hope I'll be able to go an a walk with Wally and talk to him, and especially just tell him we're going to turn around and he'll understand me.  But today I choose to love my son as he is, enjoying his uniqueness.  Whether he's wandering off or up on my shoulders he's my son.  For now we have the gift of silence, which is also a spiritual discipline.