Callie’s Blog

Yesterday my Dad called and invited us to have dinner with him and my Uncle Allen, to celebrate Allen’s birthday. We were able to make it a surprise and enjoyed a nice meal together. Our good friends had agreed to watch the girls and Anthony was at Switch, our church’s youth program. It was unusual for us to be out having dinner on a weeknight, especially without the kids.

After we got home and were getting the girls settled in for bed, Anthony came in. I asked how Switch was and he said “good”, a typical teen response to a question from a parent. He went to his room and I went to the kitchen to get a SMALL bowl of frozen yogart. Heavenly Hash, my favorite. I got a bowl, spoon, and the yogart from the freezer. About that time I notice that Zale has logged on to FaceBook and I see a posting that 11 kids were baptized during Switch. In that instant I had a flash back of Anthony coming in and his hair wasn’t straightened like it had been when he left for Switch. So I drop everything, run to his room, knock as I’m opening his door and breathlessly say, “Did you get baptized tonight?!?!?!?” He looked up at me with this almost embarrassed grin and said, “yea”, as if it’s no big deal. I tackle him with a hug and screech, “Why didn’t you tell me???!!!! We would have been there!!!!!” Zale was behind me, congratulated him and said, “Just make sure you tell her before you get married”.

I get it, of course, if I had been there I would have been crying my eyes out and probably wouldn’t have been able to stop myself from completely embarrassing him in front of his friends. And I understand it’s a personal decision that he made between him and God. I’m grateful for all of it, and it’s certainly an answer to prayer, but still a bit teary eyed that I wasn’t there to see it happen.