It was a little boy who joined his Momma and Daddy on September 23, 1956, weighing eight pounds and was twenty one inches in height.
It was a little boy who loved his parents and sprouted like a weed. When he was 12 years old he informed his Momma one day that he was always going to live with his Momma and Daddy.
He dreamed and looked forward to his 13th birthday and was the most disappointed boy you ever saw when he woke up that morning and he felt the same as he did the day before.
Then at 13 years old he got this 'bee in his bonnet' that since he was allowed to drive the tractor he sure wished he had a drivers liscense so he could drive a car. He would wallow around on the couch and dream about it for hours. So one day 'Daddy' had to explain to him in a fatherly fashion that he just as well put that dream on hold for two or three years.
He got into boy things just as his Daddy did when he was a boy. But then he grew up all too soon.
He was a young teenager who respected his parents. He was a high school senior making his Mom and Dad so proud of him.
A ‘true son’ was a twenty one year old young man who gave his Momma and Daddy their first daughter in October, 1977 by marrying this wonderful girl named Janis.
He was a twenty four year old, A twenty seven year old and a thirty three year old when he made his Momma and Daddy proud grandparents.
The years pass all too soon and a ‘true son’ “IS” now this forty five year old man who shows his Momma and Daddy how much he loves them. On two different occasions in the past twenty months this son has demonstrated that love to the utmost.
The first occasion was August 9, 2000. His Daddy called him that night at a campground where he and his family had just arrived for a few days of rest and told him that his only brother was dead; killed in a brutal murder. His first words were, “Daddy, we will have our camper home tomorrow morning and will be at your house right after lunch”. That ‘true son’ came and folded those big arms around his Daddy and while his Daddy cried on his chest that son cried with him. He held his Momma in those loving arms and let her cry her heart out as she mourned the loss of her only other child.
He was there with his parents every excruciating step of the way through all the details of planning the funeral. He was there with his strength and comfort to help hold them up during the funeral itself. He was there with his Momma and Daddy until a day and a half later when he absolutely had to go home to his job. After working a day, he called his parents that night and found out they were sitting there with their son’s personal affects that they had received that day. Hearing the pain in their voice this ‘true son’ said, “I’m coming tomorrow to spend the day with you”. I wonder if he knew just how much that meant to them? In the months that followed he was very attentive to them, showing them in every way possible they still had one son left and he loved them.
Six months later the next occasion arose when he again showed the colors of a ‘true son’. His Daddy had another health crisis and a surgery was scheduled. He was there with his parents the night before the surgery and all day of the surgery. He called at least twice a day. On the third day things were so bad with his Dad at the hospital that his Momma felt like she just needed to hear his voice so she found a quiet place in the hospital and called him. She couldn’t talk for crying and this son said, “Momma, I’m leaving in a few minutes and will be there as soon as the car will get me there”. And come he did even though he was four hours away. He knew his Momma was still so emotionally fragile that his words later were, “I knew in a matter of seconds I needed to be there”. Who could not help but love a son like that with all their heart!!
This ‘True Son’ is our son who we love so much and are so proud of. We know that he loves us and the thing we are so thankful for is that we know he loves his Lord. I’m afraid there are times we want to cling to him too much when we let the thought enter our minds that now he is the only child we have and ‘what if’ we lost him too. A few months ago he made this statement, “I never thought about being an only child”. But now that is exactly what he is. And oh my, how we love this child. He may be a forty five year old man but he is our child, our son, who we love with every fiber of our being.
This is written to honor our son, Audis E. Dawson. Audis, we both love you very much.