Friday, September 16, 2011

I believe


The holiday season was fast approaching. I mentally organized what I hoped to accomplish that night: First, the Christmas cards to those who had worked with Sam in the past year, then package their gifts.

The cards were already selected: simple and white with a small Santa engraving – whimsically elegant with plenty of white space for Sam’s large scroll. The stock was both heavy and soft to the touch. I had chosen the cards envisioning the juxtaposition of elegance and Sam’s childish script.

I laid out the cards and like a drill sergeant directed Sam to sign them, “Love, Sam.” I was surprised by his unexpected protest.

“Want write. Want write,” he insisted. Translation: he disagreed.  I groaned and thought, he is going write “underwear” all over my beautiful cards. Sam had been obsessed with writing “underwear” for the last few weeks. I was certain today would be no different. More firmly I said, “Just write Love, Sam”.

Again he refused. Looking to compromise, I found a piece of blank paper and said “OK, Sam. Write whatever you want here and later we will sign the cards with just your name.”

Sam accepted this and picked up his pen. I watched in surprise as he slowly and carefully wrote:
Sam looked up and said firmly, “Want write believe.” Taken aback, I asked, “Believe what, Sammy?” He responded emphatically, “Believe.” BELIEVE!”

A little humbled, I thought: Believe in God; believe in Santa Claus; believe in Sam. Believe in miracles. Whatever it is you believe in, just believe. It was a perfect a message. Within the subtext was an important reminder: never assume because little is said there isn’t something worth listening to.  

Somehow this story is incomplete without a fast-forward to 4:45 AM the next morning when Sam greeted me with an evil and boisterous, “WAKE UP, TRASH!”

I truly hope that greeting had more to do with his pal Oscar the Grouch and less to do with his general opinion of me from the prior night.

I believe I’ll never know.

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3 comments:

  1. I'm so glad I decided to procrastinate and read this post.

    I love Sam! And I love your blog, too.

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  2. aw, this is very lovely. sam has a lot of heart, it's great that he really wanted to share that word. thx for this post. and for every post. it's always a joy reading your words.

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  3. Thanks. That is nice to hear from - particularly from you. Funny how even with limited communication skills Sam zeros in on certain words. I wouldn't have really thought so deeply about that particular word were it not for Sam. As a result, we have the word "believe" scattered about the house because it really is one of the best words around.

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