Dane lost the election -- by 3 measley votes....

He found out yesterday -- I had a bit of a heavy heart all day. Dane is just such a cool kid. He is an old soul. He always has a way of compassion -- knowing how people are feeling and reaching out to them. I will never forget my dark and lonely days...I would try very hard to put on a brave face and bright smile. I never fooled Dane. Out of the blue, he'd give me a big hug and tell me he loves me or he'd simply hold my hand. One night, I was watching TV -- feeling exceptionally vulnerable and hopeless -- and he came up, cuddled under my blanket with me, grabbed my cheeks and said, "you are the best mom in the whole world. You do such a good job." Ugh....tears

So anyway, I worried about his heart all day yesterday. They were at Sunshine's last night but I just had to see him. I went to school to intercept him :) I was talking to Jen (she's married to Sunshine now and is a teacher at the boy's school) and she was nonchalantly telling me how well he handled it. "He's totally OK with it" I think she was saying right as my almost sixth grader came and literally tackled me with a huge bearhug. I grabbed his beautiful face and said, "Hi baby, how are you?" and big tears welled up in his gorgeous dark brown deer in the headlight eyes, "did you hear?"... Jen said, "Oh maybe that's what he needs" and offered an escape into her open and empty classroom (a gracious offer, my heart thanks her). We talked a little about the loss. He WAS okay. It just made him sad. He said it helped that it was so close. He also said, "student council still needs me, so I'll just run for class representative." That's my son. Sigh. I actually congratulated him for losing. Dane has never lost before in his life, yet, he knew this was just a blip on the radar screen. I love his emotion and strength. I love his words, his intentions and his actions. I commended him for holding his head high and looking forward.

This child is amazing. He has the ability to feel the moment, yet see the lesson and the future. And, as bizarre as it sounds, I drove home after a sweet hug and kiss goodbye from both boys -- and asked Jesus to help me be more like my son. I wanna be like Dane. :)