Self Confidence

Today's photo is a beautiful lily which caught my eye while I was walking in the market. I love the rich colour.

The weekend was pretty good. I had my son and got to enjoy his company for a couple of days. Saturday morning I took him to Queen Street East in the Beach where we visited the Sunset Grill for brunch. I friend who still lives in the apartment building where I used to live was working at the grill as usual. We have know her for seven or eight years and she has watched my son as he has grown. He always gets a hug from her but on Saturday she stopped midway through serving another customer to grab him and give him a hug like a long lost prodigal son. She then apologized to the customer and finished taking his order. She returned to our table to lavish attention on the boy again. He is now almost the same height she is and she tell him can't get over the change in him from the last time she saw him which was only about six months ago. He has grown but he is still a bit short for his age which bothers him. I've told him he is growing fine and will spurt to catch up to his friends anytime now but it is when someone else pays attention to his growth that goes a long way toward building his self confidence. Parent's comments don't seem to have the same impact as the comments from others.

He got a second boost to his ego on Sunday while we were at a local mall. The mall was very crowded and we were rushing to get a few things done before I had to take him home. He was walking through the crowded aisle about six feet in front of me when he passed two cute young girls of about his age. His is oblivious to the folks around him as he is on a mission to get to the West 49 skateboard store. As he passes the girls they both turn to look at him then as they pass me, not realizing I am his father, one of the girls turn to her friend and says, "cute guy". I caught up to him a few minutes later to relay the comment and enjoy watching as his cheeks get rosy with embarrassment but it is easy to see it helps his ego.

I am so pleased to see him mature healthy and happy, I recall how miserable I was as a boy especially as I reached puberty and it is so nice to see that the right support from people that love you can make all the difference in how you see yourself. I was concerned about the impact on my son and his step sister when his mother and I separated. He appears to be well adjusted and growing up to be a pretty happy and self confident person. He's not a great student mind you but I'll take a happy and self confident person over a scholar any day.