vacation bible school

caleb was grandmothered in at vacation bible school two years ago. vern's mother helping with crafts just one more year so she could justify bringing him there. we do not attend their church, and vm was itching for a reason to show off her beloved.

every day the boy would come home and report "nothing" and "i do not know". sunday we went to watch him not sing on the very front step in the sanctuary. he didn't sing, he didn't move. caleb has always been a nice average for his age. meaning he looked teeny tiny not singing, not moving, with a class a full year to two older. at 6'3" each, vern and his brother, jay, are recognized for being tall-ish. something about caleb's introduction into their childhood congregation as the shortest kid up front was amusing. better still, their teacher carried caleb from activity to activity on his shoulders. tyler is tall. then just finishing his sophomore year of high school, he graduated this year at 6'8". caleb would report "nothing" and "i do not know" and his grandmother would giggle at how tyler would have to duck down with caleb not to crack the child's head when coming downstairs. i never did get a good handle on what went on that year.

the following, when caleb was actually of age, he could explain a bit of the day's activities and always half their bible lesson. "Jesus met a blind man." "and then what happened?" "i don't know." "Jesus died." "and then what happened?" "i do not know." neither he nor his grandmother could report who his teacher was just "not tyler". he still refused to sing. stating his class was terrible at singing and so he refused to participate and sound bad, too. the big kids sang so much better. maybe he would sing if he ever sang with the big kids. stuck yet with the bitty bad singers, he stood completely still on the front step. if you don't sing, you can't do the actions that go with them either.

this year he fell in love with vbs despite a rocky beginning. for the entire week leading up, he would let it be known vbs was not his bag. he did not want to go. he didn't even fake it for grandma, not even for her cookies. brushing his teeth monday morning, caleb stepped back and told me "i am afraid of heights." well. ok. "so i don't want to ride on that guy's shoulders." ah. so. "and i did not like it even back then when i was a little baby kid either." point taken. i reminded him he was a big kid now. he could walk. i told him grandma would still probably laugh about it and mention it three times in one sitting of conversation like she does every time vbs is mentioned. because that's how grandmas are when they latch on to a moment you were especially cute.

we missed his big sing-a-long sunday. we were lucky to have a hint of how improved his class sings this year when the kids that could, did, at mayberry's neighbor's days variety show saturday night. caleb and three girls rocked the little opera theater. it'll sound biased, but i'd say it was the best performance of the night. or at least a close tie to the man who sang about an angel flying close too the ground completely drunk. i do mean completely and drunk. not only that, but caleb rode the church float in the parade beforehand. towards the front so that when his float was through the course tyler carried him back to where we were catching candy along the route. i make note of this only for how hard vern and i laughed that tyler had his hands cupped in front of him providing a seat where caleb sat. as low as the boy could get to the ground and still not have to work his feet. if only his grandparents had been there to see him, they would have beamed.

they were home. folding bulletins after an entire afternoon fighting technology in the church basement and an hour long phone call with vern's older brother explaining just how copy machines work. we spoke with both parties just after. each sounded thoroughly spent. vm conned jay into playing organ for their church when he was a lad. she brought him to a wwf match. he's been commuting from 2 hours to 45 minutes every other week since to play. and do bulletins because if he didn't serve as church secretary his mother would. and after saturday, it's evident how that would work out. jay would be doing them no matter.

which he sort of chuckled about the next morning when all of us missed the big missouri-synod lutheran vbs church finale and pot luck where caleb would have belted it out with his entire well-sung class. we met instead where jay actually worships with his wife every other sunday and saturday nights for their son's baptism. jay's family is one wwf match and a copy machine away from being entirely catholic. i was raised rlds. then i went to a liberal (read: not mo-synod) lutheran school, i married their lapsed son in an elca (read: not-at-all mo-synod) church, and now sometimes attend a non-denominational outfit an hour south. or as vern's parents and extended mo-synod cousins assume "not at all".

indeed. caleb is his grandmother's new hope. not really because she fears for his spiritual growth quite like the cousins do. i'm waiting for her to suggest organ lessons.