Lemuel's mother and I have long been divorced. Her second marriage had an impact on his decision to join the Air Force so quickly. But the important thing is his mother, Renee. Renee and I fashioned a lot of ourselves into our son. He is the only son we have together, and this child had a profound impact on us. She couldn't look in his eyes without falling to pieces inside so it was my task to discipline in his first years. On the other hand he frightened me. Here was a little baby boy with a little talley wacker, a little penis who had the potential to become a man, I was star struck, in a manner of speaking, at this. His beauty was layered with as many meanings as lay surprises within him.
Before he was talking Renee somehow got Lemuel to describe and draw his dreams to paper. When I came home from work she would translate his drawings to me thus pulling me into his world. After the birth ceremonies I did for him, as I did for all my children, this exercise bound the three of us for lifetimes, and ripples to this day within us, and in all of the worlds we touch. His mother planted and instilled her touch of the world in Lemuel tuning her ear to his ears listening to things we, as his parents, could not access. It was Renee that recognized how Lemuel discerned death in animals, and how he grieved witnessing Death dance Life out of a pigeon soon after he learned to walk. Thus began a process of development for our son’s destiny we had no control over. Our job was to be parents, husband and wife to each other and our children. That dance moves with his medicine as an adult, a warrior, and a father (which will come one day).
A mother’s power is beyond words, from other worlds. ~ Gregory E. Woods, father of four
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