Proud

Never had I felt such a sense of pride that I had rising from my chest. My little boy, at 3 and ¾ years old was standing, along with 40 or so older Sunday school kids performing their Christmas program. Nolan hadn’t allowed Tricia or I to practice at all during the previous weeks. We had heard about the small, confident steps he was making during the Sunday school practices from his teacher. He started out sitting on her lap, with a stuffed animal, then as the weeks went by, he began to sit with the kids, do an action here and there, then he was singing and doing the actions at the same time.

As the program began Tricia and I sat in the second row off to the side. Nolan walked into the sanctuary, in line with all the other well-dressed kids. He was wearing his Christmas shirt, tie and vest, along with dress pants, socks and shoes-he looked so mature! As he found his spot on the risers he found us looking at him, and with a beaming smile and a wave we sat down, waiting to see how well this was going to go over. I had taken him to practice the day before and after sitting on my lap for the first half I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.

As the songs started, you could see him moving his lips and following the lead of the other kids around him. He began to get more confident, and his singing and movements continued to get more pronounced. I was literally beaming inside; I think the smile on my face was bigger than the one he had on his! I felt absolutely proud. He was so stubborn, and wouldn’t let us help him, and then he surprised Tricia and I with a real treat.

I can only hope that this simple concert and the feelings it created in both of us as parents is only the beginning. I honestly wanted to cry, just in the excitement around seeing our little guy up there, surrounded by kids much older than him, singing away. It was truly the first, in hopefully a long line, of being able to see our little guy do something amazing.

Following the ceremony Nolan was given all sorts of praise from the parents and grandparents who were there. Two weeks after the concert while we were waiting for church to start a woman from the congregation went up to Tricia and told her how cute she thought Nolan was. She said it made her think for a moment that she should have another kid!