Thursday, February 14, 2013

Our son....Alex

This is Alex, our 23 year old son and his lady friend, Lisa. She flew in to meet the family over Christmas vacation and she and Alex live together in Juneau, Alaska where Alex is finally in his last year of college. He is on the six year undergraduate plan but we actually think he is going to complete his degree! Whahoo!!!!! Alex has been problematic in the past, meaning that like many young people, we didn't always see eye to eye and we didn't like some of the people he hung with and some of the things he got involved with. Hopefully, he is on the road to manhood. Like many parents, we have worried seriously about where he would land and how.
 
Watching him for the first time ever with a woman he clearly cares about was very special. We saw a young man concerned that his woman be treated well. That she fit in and that she understood just how snarky his mom could be under pressure. I wanted to talk about Alex because today, I cried. He wrote the most loving message to Lisa on Facebook. A public proclamation of his feelings for her. Something I had not seen from him before.

One day during the holiday, the kids decided to go to the discount store and Lisa bought some play doh type material and proceeded to make toys. She first made a doll which she said was Alex like. Kinda looked female to me but she is clearly artistic. We had lots of laughs. Lisa also made a clay mask for Alex. Amazingly, he put it on and had his photo taken looking dorky.
Here are three of my favorite men. Richard, my husband, along with Alex and WeiLiang, or William as he is called. William, one of our sons, is our former Chinese exchange student who lived with us in Flint for his senior year. William is an "American boy" as he says. A graduate of the University of Arizona, who works in Northern California as a high tech computer engineer. We were so happy to have him home this summer while Alex was with us.

One thing I am enjoying about Alex is his ability to laugh with others and laugh at himself. He received these intriguing pjs for Christmas and put them on while everyone laughed at him. They are snuggly and I am betting they are getting plenty of use in the privacy of the kids' home in Alaska.
Because Alex lives so far away from us, we have only been able to see him twice per year, at the most. William gets home infrequently but we are hoping he will be with us again this spring in South Georgia. Family makes me smile and we are so lucky to have a growing extended family. Lots of family photos and family stories to tell. And there is always the story of how it is that I have a Honduran son, Allen, who I miss terribly. 

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