Confessions of a Domestic Goddess in Training: Our Little C is Seventeen.

How is my little Grease Lightening kid seventeen? Isn't that picture just the cutest? You used to love to dance. I remember watching you move around the dance floor at various family member's wedding receptions. You looked so free and in your element. Peace and contentment didn't always show on your face easily - I'm not sure why. But it's more prevalent now. I think you've found your niche in Utah. You have a great group of friends and you have a girlfriend who you think is pretty spectacular.

You're funny, and kind, and just so yourself, that it brings me joy. I watched you play basketball with the young men's youth group two nights ago. You were wearing your new shorty, shorts, which is really a light blue swimsuit covered in bananas that you bought second hand after calling and begging me to Venmo you $8. Your brother, Lou, was also on your team. He wasn't very excited about playing because he was the youngest and the smallest. During the game I watched you pass to him, encourage him, and give him tips when he was feeling unsure. Gosh, your cool. Thanks for having his back.

You have great potential to be an amazing leader. I can see how your friends already look up to you. Remember to wield that influence with kindness, wisdom, and compassion. Qualities that you naturally possess.

In our family we have a rule, "B's for keys" so you must have a B average in school to obtain a license. You have been working harder at receiving good grades and will have your license soon in hand. I didn't realize the laws in UT were so different from the ones in ID (at least the ones that I remembered) so that has slowed things down a bit. I took you to get a permit in August not understanding the intensity of the learner's permit driving test, nor that you had to have the permit for 6 mos before you could get your license. You haven't been super happy about the length of the process, but only a few more weeks!!

You have been a working man all year. You clean an elementary school during the week and when you received your second paycheck you came home with a PlayStation. What?! You also have enjoyed going out to eat more than ever before because you have dinero. Of course we have discussed with you the joys of saving (and the importance), which you are applying... a little. You have a second job as well working for a lawn company. You do door to door sales and have made quite a few sales already . . .

that was until the corona-virus came to play.

I began writing this letter months ago - when our lives were normal. Now, I'm not sure about when you'll get that driver's license, when you'll return to work at the school or if the lawn company you work for will even stay in business. (Good news, this post has taken me many moons to write and I'm happy to say, you now have your license!! Woohoo!!)

What I do know is that I've loved having you home with us. You're such a goof and you have a way of lighting up the house. Every Sunday you prepare and then bless the sacrament in our home which is very special. It's mostly spiritual and great, but you also like to break the bread into unequal pieces, leaving teeny tiny ones on the plate and a couple of ginormous ones. Without fail -

your. siblings. always. laugh. And your youngest sister loves to shove the largest piece in her mouth... while giggling. Someone is going to choke during home church.

Recently we went camping and you fished your life away. I watched you teach your siblings the fishing ropes, one by one. You love to fish. Also, your apparel on this camp out mimicked John B's from Outer Banks. You rocked that bandanna around your neck.

Earlier this year we about sold you to the gypsies. It was on a Wednesday night in January. I had just arrived home from picking up Ruckus from a birthday party that had ran late. I walked in and asked Lou if you were home from your church activity. He said, yes, and that you were in the shower. I then headed to my room to feed the baby. When I walked out of my room you passed me in the hall. I noticed weird marks on your back. I thought they were stretch marks at first. But as I looked closer I noticed they were cuts. I said, what happened to your back?! You turned to me and you were crying. You never cried. I thought maybe someone had tried to beat you up. I was ready to beat them up... but then you said, "Mom, I fell into the lake." Which meant you somehow fell into a frozen lake. I held you in the hallway while you sobbed.

We walked into my bathroom (because that's where you have to go for a little privacy around here) and you told me the whole story.

You and two of your buddies went down to the frozen lake after your church activity. Two of you decided to walk out onto the lake while the third was teased for remaining on land. You, unfortunately, were not the third. The third buddy was finally lured out onto the lake due to the excitement of a fish that was frozen upside down. For a moment there was joy as you all basked in the upside down fish phenomena, but then your third, tentative, heavier than all in attendance pal, fell right through the frozen layer of lake. Your body darted through next. Your last friend standing fell in after he tried to help your other friend out of the water. You told me it felt like you were stuck underneath the ice for an eternity. You finally broke through the ice by stabbing it with your phone. When you surfaced you tried to help your first friend that fell in make it back to the dock. Your other friend was trying to climb back up onto the more solid pieces of ice. As you swam closer to the docks you didn't think you'd be able to get out. You were exhausted and cut up and you didn't think you'd have the energy to pull yourself out. That's when an arm reached out to you from the dock and someone directed you to grab their hand. You told me that this person must have had the longest arms imaginable because you didn't know how they could have reached you. A man pulled you, and the friend closest to you, to safety. A woman was on the dock as well and she pulled out your friend who fell in last. You had no idea where these people had came from. No one had been there when you fell in. After they pulled you out they asked if you needed help, but you guys said no and headed for your friend's car.

Here's what I wrote on our local FB page:

See that cute kid of mine, with the questionable maroon sweatshirt? He and two of his friends are lucky to be alive after last night. Not long after the three of them decided to walk onto frozen Utah lake around 8:30 p.m., the ice shattered beneath their feet, and dropped them under the water. Not only was the water freezing, but the top of the water was covered in sheets of ice that they had to break in order to return to the surface. When they fell, and as they swam, their bodies were being cut by the pieces of ice.They swam as hard as they could to the dock, but they were exhausted. Miraculously, they were rescued by two earthly angels, a man and a woman, who appeared on the dock and pulled them out. First, thank you earthly angels for being there to rescue my boy and his pals. You answered three mother's daily prayers by keeping our children safe. Second,please share this post with others and talk to your children about staying off the lake when it is frozen - even when it looks safe!!

After I made the Facebook post two news stations came to interview you. The two earthly angels who rescued you reached out to me after my FB post. I'm so thankful for Kytie and Tyler. We were able to thank Kytie via Skype when Fox News was here. She was hilarious and perfect. She started giving you tips about walking on the ice but then she said, "Never mind. You stay off the frozen lake because I don't want to have to safe your a** again." Ha ha!!

In all seriousness, I know you are alive today because you still have a purpose on this earth. So do your friends. Make every day count. Be a seeker of goodness and an example of the believers. I promise you can be an instrument in the Lord's hand if you remain diligent in living His gospel. But, if things don't quite go that way or at times you feel like your world is drowning, remember that Jesus' arm will always rescue you. His arm truly is the longest arm imaginable.You just have to reach out.

I couldn't love you more,

Mom