The Boys in the Middle

When you have five kids, there's always someone to worry about. In the middle of a dark, scary night, I've been known to say "Moms with anxiety this bad should not have five children!"

I never really mean that. I'm so grateful I was blessed with five, but yes, I do spend quite a lot of time worrying about them.

That said, I spend even more time being proud of them, and today, I'm especially proud of the two in the middle. I've found that in large families (Does a family of seven qualify as large??), kids tend to be grouped, usually by age, into categories with names. Our family is no exception. Until Seth was born, we had two groups: "The Big Kids" and "The Little Boys." Luke and Shulamith were the "big kids," and Isaiah and Eli were the "little boys." When Seth was born, that changed slightly. We suddenly had three groups: The Big Kids, The Middle Boys, and Seth.

And so it is, still today.

Those "middle boys" have awed me recently with their effort, skill, and dedication to their respective jobs, so this proud mama needs to brag just a little.

First, Isaiah. His team of software engineers had a competition last week, a "hack-a-thon." They divided into five teams, each with a team leader, whose responsibility it was to come up with an original coding idea and then guide his team to write it in just three days. Isaiah was the leader of his team. I knew something was up because suddenly, he was going to work at 7:00 in the morning and not coming home until after 6:00. On the final day, he came home and told me what was going on, and guess what? His team won first place! The prize, a $100 Amazon gift card for each member of his team, but in his words, "It's really just the bragging rights. Respect." Go, Isaiah!

Then, Eli. As many of you know, he started his first teaching job this fall, at Park Lane Elementary School in Sandy. Fifth graders can be challenging to manage, so Eli works the greatest share of every Saturday doing his prep work for the upcoming week, so he's fully prepared and can focus on management when he's in the classroom. It hasn't been an easy start, but he is making such great progress, and the kids are responding. Last week, he and Amanda and I went to a student council fundraiser dinner at Zupa's, and my heart might have broken just a little as I heard so many children's voices shouting, "Hi Mr. Webster!"

I have five wonderful children, and I also have an anxiety disorder, so I can't even begin to calculate the hours I've wasted worrying about these people when they are perfectly fine. But I'm so proud of each of them.

...and this week, I'm especially proud of my "little boys," turned "middle boys," who have grown into such hardworking, responsible, caring young men.