Relaxing Weekend & Interesting Observations

So our trip was lovely! We played miniature golf, went to the beach, ate wonderful food (especially Gaido's!), swam in the hotel pool, toured an off-shore oil rig, went to Col Bubbies (for those of you not familiar with Galveston, it is a HUGE army surplus store) and watched a couple cruise ships leave port. Of all of the above, P & J decided that swimming at the hotel pool at night was by far their favorite, go figure!

But what made this weekend so special was observing P and seeing what a great young man he is turning into. He is gregarious. He is compassionate. He is completly unbiased. He is the boy that comes over to play and spends more time talking to the parents...having real conversations, than playing with his friends. On Saturday night we were at the hotel pool. There was a family of 17, it appeared that four generations were represented. This family happened to be hispanic with the majority speaking only Spanish and a few speaking very broken English. They were all playing their own, made-up game. What did P do? He jumped right in and started playing with them. He was having a ball and after only a few minutes they were acting as if he was a part of their family. He was "talking" with the great-grandma, some teenage boys, other adults, the toddlers, all of them. Sunday morning we went to the beach and I asked them if they wanted to go to an area that was less crowded. What did P say? "No, mom. I want to go where there are lots of people so I can make a lot of friends." So we did. And he made several more friends. Mostly early teens to early twenties. Again, most of them didn't speak English. Somehow he figured out how to communicate with them, and he had a ball. Later that afternoon we went back to the hotel to swim in the pool. This time there were about 12 teenagers in the pool, all from an African American family. What did he do? Jumped right in and started playing with them. And then a boy about 12 came in who was extremely overweight. You could tell that he was very hesitant to get in the pool. What did P do? He went straight over to him and invited him to play and got him involved with the rest of the group.
Now when I call out the different races, please don't think that I am being racist. I am just showing you the beauty of my observations. P just has this uncanny ability to fit in with any person of any race, size, sex, age or ability. He has always been this way. In the beginning it was very unsettling because he knows no strangers. I am trying really hard to find a balance between protecting him and stifling his amazing gift. Right now I am putting it in God's hands, because I believe with all my heart that He has something truly special in store for P utilizing this exact gift. I am just so incredibly greatful that I will have the opportunity to sit back and observe!