Trustworthiness

I never thought that an award, one of my kids earned at school, would make me feel better than my child who received it. Yet when Sam told me he earned a character award I jokingly told him that I did not believe it (his behavior at school has left me with sleepless nights in the past), but when I found out that he had earned the character award for trustworthiness my immediate thought was how ironic.

Sam has a lot going for him but over Thanksgiving when he stole over a hundred dollars from Ian's cousin and then lied about it I, as his mother, felt a lot of things, above all a failure in the department of raising my son to be a trustful, honest individual. The consequences were great for Sam and the emphasis on being a trustworthy, honest individual has been a lesson for many a small moments in the months that have followed his criminal act. So when he brought home his award for trustworthiness my heart once again has been restored in this area. His teacher wrote in the award - Sam, I'm proud of the way you try to do the right thing. And when you are honest enough to accept responsibility for your actions.

I am so grateful that his teacher sees the desire in Sam to be the remarkable individual that we know he is and can be. When I was talking to Sam about what it means to be trustworthy and why he got the award he quickly responded with, "I got it cause I don't lie at school" For the last couple days I have been addressing Sam as, my trustworthy boy, and with each address he breaks out in a magnificent grin and so does my heart.