Letters to My Children {May: Brooks}
Dear Brooksy: (I forgot that you have asked me to just call you Brooks from now on. I'm sorry; I'll try to do better.)
When I asked you where you wanted to go and what you wanted to do for your next little photo shoot, I wasn't surprised when you said, "Let's go to the black trailer and tell jokes. And don't bring Crosby!" So just the two of us headed out just before sunset to fight off the mosquitoes on our adventure to the black trailer. You held my hand almost the whole way.
This place has become a favorite spot for you and Aubrey. It's been a hideout, a clubhouse, a fort, a boat, and even a restaurant. This is where you've met Hayden and Rylan, Hunter and Grace, Sarah, Cooper, and Kaylee. And Heaven Lee. We can't leave out Heaven Lee! I don't know how many times I've sent you out here to bring home the flashlight, backpack, sleeping bag, a deck of cards, Aubrey's pocketknife (which you are still not allowed to use!), books, picnic supplies, or baseball gloves. If we've lost something, this is the first place you think to look.
When we sold our house and decided to live in an RV, you were just four. You no longer had your own room, we got rid of most of your toys and gave away the cats. Gone were the ten acres where you roamed and played in the field in your little Gator. Sometimes I felt so bad that you didn't live in a regular home like everyone else, or that you were somehow going to be deprived of something or feel weird. But you have proved me wrong. You have laughed and loved, created, imagined and adapted greater than daddy and I ever expected. Now you are six and there are so many things you don't even remember about our old house, much less miss. But I think perhaps you will always remember the neighbors we've had, the friends we've met, the creek, the garden by the river, the hammock, building the teepee, getting so cold when we run out of propane in the middle of the night, sharing a room with Aubrey, learning not to flush when someone is in the shower, and even the poison ivy! And what you probably don't yet understand, but will hopefully realize one day, is that you are incredibly blessed way beyond what most kids around the world experience day by day. All over the world, children live in grass huts or yurts. Most have no running water at all and some sleep wherever they can. You have a family and a home where you are safe and loved. Not everyone does.
This is what I will think of when I look back on these photos of you in the black trailer. That God has provided just what you have needed and that His plan is perfect. And the jokes...hopefully I will remember those.
"Mommy, what do you call two people in the black trailer, surrounded by mosquitoes?"
"I don't know, Brooks. What?"
"Supper! Let's go home."
"Yeah. Let's go home."
Love, Mommy
P.S. This is now my new favorite place to take pictures. Thank you for sharing with me!
