Connor
I had an unexpected surprise when I became pregnant with Connor only 6 months after I was newly married. Money was tight, and I was concerned about how we were going to afford this baby on such a limited income. I was in graduate school, and Connor’s father was just starting out in medical sales. One night early on in my pregnancy I had a dream. In this dream there were many people walking along, young people, old people, couples, teens, young children and families, from all walks of life, all going to listen to a young man speak. We were all drawn to hear the prophet – he was knowledgeable beyond his years and had much wisdom to share.
As I arrived, his back was toward me and he stood on a simple wooden box. He appeared to me to be about 11 or 12, with tousled blond hair and a calming energy. All of a sudden the boy stopped speaking and turned to face me, looking at me directly in my eyes. He had piercing blue eyes that felt like they could see into your soul. I remember being startled in the dream. The boy then spoke to me and said, “Do not worry, you are having a son, he is coming from God”
Over the years I thought about this dream, I knew of course who the boy represented, my son Connor. I often thought this dream meant he would become a great speaker or musician, actor or some amazing person who led others. But that was not to be Connor’s
path in this lifetime. It’s funny because Connor didn’t like public speaking and
preferred to be behind the scenes with his camera, so I often wondered why I saw him speaking to the masses, and what did the people represent? I would idly stand there, lost in my thoughts for a moment, and I would drift back to that dream and think, what did the people mean?
Connor was my sweet, witty boy with a grin from ear to ear and who always looked at the positive. My son – so incredibly handsome but more than that was his unbelievable gift for making people feel good. He always wanted those around him to smile. Gracious, kind, funny, and honest- my boy was all of those things and more. He had a wicked humor that was legendary among his friends.
He was always extremely communicative – saying his first word at 9 months “ba” for basketball. He was so bright. He was 2 ½ when he looked into the sky, pointed to 2 birds and said, “one birdie and one birdie is 2 birdies”. We always had this incredible bond; he was only 3 when he said “you’re my best friend momma” and I believe he actually understood what that meant. The two of us talked about everything under the sun, we spoke of friendships and love and what it meant to not only be loved but how to show love. We had in-depth conversations about life all the time. It was common for Connor and I to stay up late at night talking like old friends. Connor shared openly with me telling me once “mom I probably tell you way too much”. I believe this bond between us started when I began to teach him about communication through sports.
He was a star athlete, playing baseball when he was younger and continuing on to play water polo in high school. I started to use sports as a way to connect with Connor when he was 2. It was this bridge of communication that I believe allowed us to have the special bond we shared. However, contrary to what you might think, I actually didn’t know much about sports. Certain things were common sense to me, like baseball. I had always liked that particular sport so I simply put a bat in his hands at 2 and said “let’s play”. I showed him how to throw a ball and very slowly developed a rapport with him through sports and communication. As a speech and language pathologist, I was always playing language games with Connor since the time he was a baby. I drew communication out of him in what I was trained to do with my degree, and allowed sports to fill in the blanks when he didn’t want to talk to me. This bridge between sports and communication was a key factor in us becoming a duo.
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