Braggin' Rights

This Tuesday, it's all about bragging. What am I bragging about? My oldest son, Blaize.

He's sixteen now and I know I give him a lot of flack. I joke that he has head-up-his-bum-syndrom and for the most part, he does. I tell him as soon as I hear the "POP", I'll think about letting him have his driver's license. He's a goofball, but he's also a pretty damned good kid all things considered.

He's in high school and the Learning Skills program, which used to be called Special Ed was looking for prom dates for a couple of the girls who attend. The teacher asked several boys who weren't in Learning Skills and they all turned her down. She caught my son in the hallway, asked him and he said he'd be honored too, he just had to okay it with me. I said yes! I loved the fact that he wasn't embarrassed by doing something like this considering he isn't in Life Skills.

Here's something about my son. He has never had a problem with anyone who has a disability. The teacher thanked me for being such a great role model. From the time Blaize was little, he learned that disabilities weren't something to make fun of and that they preferred to be treated like everyone else. There's a home here and he was used to being around wheelchairs. When we lived in one of the apartment complexes, one of the ladies had a grandson in a wheelchair. While all the other kids were riding their bikes around the square, Blaize would be sitting with the kid in the wheelchair and they'd make their own game up. At the dances, starting in elementary school, Blaize was the one who'd have the boy in his class, who's in a wheelchair, out in the middle of the floor spinning him and rocking him to the music.

He was the life of the Learning Skills Prom and the teachers and staff couldn't thank him enough.