The Water Bottle

I had the great opportunity, thanks to a great friend, to go to Albuquerque, NM for a great moment in the life of my parents. My father was asked to be the head lead pastor of the Temple Baptist Church of Albuquerque and I am so proud of him and happy for him, but that will be another blog at another time. Today's blog is going to be about a moment that happened while at my sister's house with my beautiful nephew, Aven Nordin!

I woke up earlier than I wanted to because my body was two hours ahead of the time at which I found myself now abiding by, but because I'm a morning person I was up! I got out of bed and started walking around my sister's house and looking at all the pictures capturing all the moments that I have missed living so far away. I found myself wiping a couple tears from my eyes... one for the joy I felt that my sister is now the healthy happy mother of two beautiful kids and the other sadness that I've had to miss most of her successes as mother and wife. I then found myself looking into the room of my niece only to find an empty bed. My heart skipped a couple beats and then I remembered a conversation Lavel (sister) and I had about Amri (niece) going to her bedroom and finishing up her sleep in mommy's bed... so peace came back to me... and then a sense of curiosity! "What is that wonderful little bundle of boy doing this early in the morning?" I thought, as I approached his bedroom door. Yup, just what I thought I would find... Aven was in his bed awake looking at the door anticipating the moment mommy or daddy would open it to release him back into the world of curiosity and wonder! He and I connected eyes, so I felt compelled to take him out, change his diaper and then take him back to my room and spend some time together... so I did!

Aven began his baby tendency of searching for things to explore in the great big world that he found himself in. The first finding was a water bottle with about three adult swigs left in it. He started fondling the bottle and then squeezed it. He lifted it up in the air and put it on the pillow. He tried throwing it and then pursued it again. I found myself just amazed at how Aven could be so entertained and focused on this water bottle. Then came the fixation with the lid that captured this liquid... now, getting this thing off! LOL! He fought the fight and seemed to be understanding the process that it would be to take this lid off of this bottle. After about five minutes of allowing him to struggle and toil I opened the bottle and allowed him to take a drink (with me holding the bottle). This was an amazing experience and he wanted to do it again and again and again and then he wanted to do it on his own. Now, at this point I was given the choice... do I allow him the freedom to hold the water bottle and experience the responsibility of having this liquid at his grasps to do whatever he chooses or do I continue to hold it and keep this little fellow from exploring any further. Hmm... well, being that I am uncle and not mommy, I wanted him to continue... so I released my hands from the container. In less than 10 seconds the water ended up all over Avens chest, pants and a small radius of surrounding area on the bed.

It was in this moment that I thought about the first time I was given the new freedom of a job and then all the responsibility that came with that job and getting my first car and the freedom and responsibility this brown Datsun offered me! Can you remember the new freedoms that you were given and then the responsibilities that came with it? Wow, the freedom of dating, but the responsibility of remaining a gentleman and a lady and remaining pure! Or how about that first job, the freedom to make money, but the responsibility of doing what you need to do to make this business an outstanding business. It is so awesome... until the spill happens! OH NO! Right when I thought I had it all under control I found myself getting that first ticket for speeding or that write up for inappropriate work ethics or the break up because you crossed a boundary. In life we are given freedoms and the responsibilities that go with them. Isn't it wonderful to have this capability? Because of this we can love, we can obey, we can honor, we can worship, we can do so much! Because if we are not given the freedom to choose nor the responsibilities to learn then we would all be puppets... and we are definately not that! I love that I can learn from my mistakes and that I get more freedom when I show that I can handle the responsibilities. But then on the other hand, when I can't handle all the responsibilities I experience the set-back and freedom is taken from me. Like when I lied to my mother about finding those quarters on the ground on my way to the corner gas station when really I had stolen them off of her counter before I left so I could get something extra... Hmm... It was a while before I was allowed to go again.

Can you expand on this blog? What are other freedoms and responsibilities that we get with them? And what was a time you thrived or fell when given freedom?

Oh, and btw... I finished up the water and Aven got up to continued his exploration of the next new freedom he would encounter!