Devin: A Man For Many Reasons

 

I guess it comes from going through old pictures and journals.  Some of the neatest people I know grew up in our house and as I read about them, I find myself laughing and crying as I remember raising these little squirts.  I find it so interesting that they really don’t change all that much.  They definitely grow up and develop, but some very basic characteristics I noticed in them when they were born  confirm to me that they didn’t come as blank slates—they spent a long time before this life growing, learning, progressing, and becoming who they are.

This is Devin and just one of the things that I have most appreciated about  him is his tender heart and his tendency to be a peacemaker in the family.  Any time his Dad told a joke that made everybody at the table groan, Devin was always sure to say, “I love you Dad,” to make sure that his Dad didn’t get his feelings hurt. 

One afternoon before Devin turned three, he and Dallin (4 years old) had been playing and Dallin hurt Devin.  I had Dallin go sit on the stairs and take a time-out.  He hated time-outs, but he went and sat there.  Devin HAD been crying, but not two minutes later I found him sitting on the stairs WITH Dallin, helping him make it through his time-out and they were both laughing.  The buzzer went off a couple of minutes later to end the time-out and they both asked me to “set it for longer, we’re not ready to get off yet . . .” 

One morning about this same time I called to Devin and asked him to come downstairs.  He cheerfully called back and said, “Coming Darling . . .”

Devin was also born with a very logical mind and with an unusual ability to reason.  He, like Jamie, thrived on logic puzzles, math puzzles, and anything that challenged his mental capacities.  A creative imagination was not one of his strong points, however.  There were times that this became obvious  as the kids played.  When Devin was 3 1/2, he and Dallin were playing in the family room with the blocks.  Devin was explaining to Dallin what the things were that he had built.  They were driving their little matchbox cars around and Dallin’s car was standing at the gate to this enclosure of Devin’s.   Dallin wanted to drive his car in and get some ties to wear.  Devin told him no, that Dallin needed to go to the dress place because,   “this is a ZOO.”  Dallin said, Well, so just change this zoo to a dress place . . .”  Devin was very disgusted and told Dallin, “It’s not magic, Dallin.  I just can’t change it, I just can’t say, “Alaka Poof . . .”

One morning when Devin was five, I was standing at the kitchen sink peeling potatoes and Devin was sitting by himself at the table, eating something.  It was quiet and I heard, “Good.”  After awhile Devin says, “You wanna know why I said, ‘Good,’ Mom?  “Well, I swallowed this big thing and I can still breathe. . .”

 

Devin ALWAYS has a smile—which would be lovely unless you were cast as the villain in a 5th grade Shakespeare play.  Even after his  sword fight to the death, he lay there on stage as a grinning corpse.

Don’t let that big smile and innocent looking face of his fool you though.  He’s still full of it.  Yesterday morning early,  his  dad dropped him off at the Greyhound Bus Station down in Tacoma, where he was to take the bus to Pullman, Washington, to spend the week with Dallin.  A little later, I got a call from Devin telling me that he needed to be picked up because he had missed the bus.  My heart dropped before I remembered that Jim had already e-mailed me a picture of Devin standing BY his bus.  It’s a good thing he was out of my reach.

This week is Spring Break, and with Nathan, Marci and Jamie up at Troxel’s, and Aubrey at work all day, that would’ve left Devin home with just me and that wasn’t too appealing.  Dallin heard about his plight on Sunday and invited him up for the week.  He’s planning on visiting some of Dallin’s classes, possibly his ROTC class and then Institute, where Dallin is taking “Dating, Courtship, and Other Dangerous Activities.”   When I talked to him last night, he was helping Dallin with Math.  Talk about Fun.