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Thursday, February 14, 2013

Every once in a while...

Yesterday, as I get out of church in the rainy weather,
sporting my very thick cross of ashes on my forehead, and
I realize my car is blocked. So what do I do, what do we all do,
when finding ourselves with a few seconds of time?
Well, we check our social networks of course.
Okay, not all of us, but lots of us.
I love Instagram for the people it keeps me in touch with.
One being my dear, sweet nephew, Darcy.
Today, this blog is dedicated to this more than special teenager.
He is the middle child of HOBL's uncle Jack and Cindy.
I sit there in my car, checking Instagram and there I see this post
from "Darcy the greater"
Once again, as he has done many times in his life,
this child has floored me with just how special he is.
First, how many teens can live without their social networks.
We live in a world where kids only know texting and facebook,
they live for instagram and tweeting yet here is a sophomore in 
high school not only giving it all up for lent but explains
in words wise beyond his years, why.
Another point is, he is a boy, how many boys that age "get"
what social media is doing to our relationships.
In one paragraph, Darcy explains his reasons for it.
He also adds that his phone number is on his bio but
he would rather you come to him at school and have
a conversation with him rather than calling and texting.
This is only one way that this child has surprised not only me
but his mother in just how mature he is in his teenage body.
I don't know many adults who can give up their social media.
Shoot, I can't do it and I am all about bonding with those you love.
This child is special. He has been special since he was very young.
He walks in the shadow of an older brother who is only one
year older than him. It is hard to be different from your brother, 
walking behind, tracing his footsteps and being so different from him.
I could write paragraph after paragraph on other things this child has
done that puts you in an awe state.
He is a teen who, not only speaks to adults and can carry 
a conversation with people of all ages but he shows that he
actually enjoys it. His family means the world to him,
wanting the peace a full family gives him.
After I dry my eyes from the ash Wednesday tears that Darcy's
post caused me I just have to call his mother. Because his
daddy works a lot and has been gone most of his growing up years,
it is Cindy who has mostly raised the three kids. She deserves
to know just how I feel about this middle son of hers.
When a child does bad, all are there to complain of them
but when a child, like Darcy, shines in a positive light,
people forget to brag to their parents. I know Cindy will be touched
by his post so I call her and share with her just how special he is.
She knows that he has given up his social media for lent but
because she does not have instagram, she did not know just 
how special his post was. She cries with the knowledge of this news.
She is an awesome mother but does not want the credit for the 
specialness in Darcy.
(old picture of the Lafont family, darcy is the boy in the middle)


She shares with me a story I did not know.
When Darcy was just a year old, Cindy, Jrew and he were involved in
the tornado that passed in Cut Off.
Cindy was just coming in from grocery shopping and had brought
three year old, Jrew in the house but had left Darcy in the car seat 
because he was sleeping and figured she would bring all the groceries in 
first before attempting to wake him. while unpacking groceries, she stratled
Jrew in the home while the tornado picked up her house, just like
on "OZ" and dropped it down. The whole time she was worried
sick knowing the baby was still in the car.
Once things settled down, she ran outside and could not find her car.
The tornado had taken her car with her baby still in it and
moved it many feet away. She was terrified as she went to the car.
She did not hear him cry, she knew for sure he was dead,
Wouldn't a baby be crying having been picked up and moved in a storm?
Fearfully she peers into the car, with blown out glass, and there
was Darcy, still in his carseat, wide eyed just staring at her, not crying.
We all knew this had been a miracle and was so, so, happy with 
the fact that this could have been tragic. In many ways, it was,
they were out of a home and a vehicle but her babies were alive and safe
and so was she. The story she shares with me yesterday I did not know.
Weeks after the storm, she brought the boys to visit
our elderly "Taunt" Anna Mae who was dying.
While there a priest was visiting. In her broken English, Taunt
tells the priest "That is the baby who survived the tornado in the car"
at the time, everyone knew and had heard the story of 
"the baby in the car"
Cindy shares that as the priest laid his hands on Darcy to pray
he ended with words something like,
"God did not take you because he has something special planned for you"
We, his family, those who love him, know
how right this priest was. This teen is always doing things that
makes us beam with pride.
 Darcy is one of a kind and as I told his
Mother and him also, because yesterday evening I ironically,
run into he and his mother at the mall and am happy to be able to tell
him in person, he is a special child.
As we talk in the store of JC Penny I brag on him,
tell him all the things I had shared with his mother.
He blushes a little and shrugs his shoulders, not seeing just
how what he did is such a big deal. 
I tell him, I tell his Mother, and now, I tell all my followers here
on Instagram, I am so, so, so honored....
That he calls me Aunt Lil.
Yes, my dear "Darcy the greater"
you are special, you are great and I love you dearly.
The priest was right, there is something great you will do for the world.

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