My dear grandson, Sterling, is going into the Navy in December.  November 9th was his 23rd birthday and this is the card I made for him and stuffed with a little cash.  He was always a good boy and now…  he is a good man.

When he was in high school, he and his mother (my daughter) lived with us and almost every Friday and Saturday night all his buddies would congregate in his room with their computer paraphernalia and play computer games ’til the wee hours of the morning.  

If I offered them snacks or drinks, you would have thought I was giving away gold!  They were so grateful and polite.  Otherwise, we hardly knew they were in the house.  I guess I was the only “parent” who would tolerate such weekly activity but we knew where he was and who his friends were. It made me feel pretty special, I must admit.

No matter how late it was when they collapsed into sleep on Sterling’s bedroom floor, Sterling got up and went to the youth service at church with his mom.  As the other boys would awaken, one by one, cars would arrive and boys would slip quietly out the front door with a “Thank you, Sterling’s Grandma.” as their farewell.

Over time, some of his friends would opt to go with him to church (probably trying to figure out what was drawing their buddy out of the house at that hour after being up all night).  Sterling could never be called “pushy”.   He is so quiet and slow moving you sometimes wonder if you should poke him with a stick to be sure he’s still alive!  So the guys were pretty curious about all this Sunday morning stuff and Sterling wasn’t saying much.

Over his high school years, five of his friends started getting up with him on Sunday and, by the time they all graduated, five of his friends had been baptized and continued on to assist with Vacation Bible School and other programs at the church.

Sterling and a couple of his buds went with a group that each week made piles of PB&J’s and canisters of coffee and went to inner city parking lots, which seemed to be the night time haunts of the homeless, and distributed the food along with blankets and clothing.

College and now the Navy…  wish I’d had a few more $20’s to stick in that card.  He was most excited, I’m proud to say, about receiving one of  grandma’s “special” cards and he checked it out appreciatively.  We share an interest in steam punk, grunge, art and photography so he wanted to take in the detail.  “Cool… ” was one of the shortest and best compliments I’ve ever gotten.

No list of papers, inks and all that today.  This card was made with pride and love for Sterling Wade Rahtz…   my grandson.