Lego King

"Know your limits,

Not so you can honor them,

but so you can smash them to pieces and

Reach for Magnificence!"

~Cherie Carter Scott

Below is the letter I wrote to my oldest son on the above scrapbook page. This layout is now framed above his bed -- a reminder that he can do anything he sets his mind to do. I hope he always understands that although our time on earth is limited, our possibilities are limitless! He is truly an amazing kid, and I am so proud to be his MOM.

A, you are the LEGO KING. Everyone thinks so. Not because you inherited every LEGO your father ever owned. Not because – thanks to grandparents, uncles, Santa, and your own piggy bank – you own virtually every Bionicle, every Harry Potter, and every Star Wars LEGO ever built. No, you are the LEGO KING because you are an absolute MASTER at building these structures. Give you an instruction sheet, and you can build any new kit to perfect specifications in record time. Without instructions, you create masterpieces guided by an amazing imagination.

Half-way through the building of this Star Wars set (bought, by the way, with your own money,) you realized the instructions left out the final steps needed to complete the model. You got angry and screamed in frustration. I was firm with you and told you that screaming was not going to fix the LEGO. I did know it made you feel better temporarily, though. We considered your choices together. We could write LEGO for more instructions, but they would surely take weeks to arrive. We could pack the whole thing up and take it back to the store when we got a free moment, but that too would require more patience than you could muster. Still angry, you stomped back to your room and yelled at the half-built station. Since no one was getting hurt, nothing was getting smashed, and you were, for the moment containing your tirade within your room, I chose to excuse the outburst.

As expected, you grew quiet almost immediately. A few minutes later, you came downstairs with pink but fading cheeks, moist but gleaming eyes, and a grin stretched wide across your face. You were ready to utter the words I knew from the start I would eventually hear, “Don’t worry about ordering the instructions, Mom! I figured it out on my own!”

"I knew you could do it,” I answered. And you definitely DID!