"Kites rise highest against the wind, not with it"

Late September or early October of 2013 I wrote a blog post about my great nephew, Noah.  Of his strength, of his becoming a leader, a rock for his friends as they said goodbye to a dear friend, a force in his own right, who lost his life through a tragic, sudden and shocking event.   I wrote of Noah’s parents who opened their home to allow a place for kids to fall softly and safely, together.  Some of whom knew Jake well, some only knowing their friends were in pain, so they were in pain.  It did not matter if they knew Jake at all, this was a community of kids, who were in it for each other and they hurt.  They needed a leader, and they found one in Noah, as he opened his heart and his parents opened their home, for kids to heal. 

To everything there is a season and the days went on, as days do, and time healed, as time does.  School went on, the holidays came, spring break, summer.  Kids were back in school and life was doing what life does. 

Noah felt such deep pain and he struggled and worked his way through it. He went to basketball games and dances, laughed on the beach.  We, who love him so, saw it in his face, the pain and the loss which remained.  While he smiled, he grieved.  When he laughed, he heard the echo of the boy who was always at his side.  He spoke of Jake, he presented Jake, he represented Jake. 

Shortly after Jake’s passing, I wrote of my nephew.  It’s over a year and he has just come off an amazing football season, one in which he let no one forget his best friend, who was not there to play but started and finished each game with his team ~ forever on the field.  The miracle season is over and a new chapter begins for these men of the game.  Noah will start a new sport and a new semester.  He’s just turned 18 and he has massive arms. 

However, the Noah I watch today is different than the young leader of a year ago.  It would have been easy, and maybe even expected, for a 17-year old to give up the cause.  To want to go back to the way it was so fiercely ~ of being a guy, a jock, a teenager ~ that you just do.  But, this young man, this nephew, used his grief, engaged his grief, to become more than what he knew he had the ability to be.  Oh, he wanted to go back, no doubt, more than anything, but, instead he battled this past year and it is now added to his history. This year is woven into his strong foundation of love, of family, friendship and faith ~  not a bad start to 18, Noah.  Happiest of birthdays, dear boy ~ happiest of days.