Colorblind

Just in case you don’t already know, “The Boy” is my son. I often share stories that concern him because he can be so entertaining. He is one of those unplanned surprises where I was glad God was in charge and not me. This story is typical for him. This past weekend at church our youth had an immersion. This is where the youth camp out and immerse themselves in the Word, studying one book of the Bible. The Boy connected with one of the adult leaders, Nathaniel, and he is now The Boy’s new best friend. All his talking about the immersion included Nathaniel. 

When we were leaving church Sunday night, Nathaniel happened to be walking down the sidewalk. The Boy told me, “Slow down and roll down your window.” He pointed at Nathaniel, giving him the evil eye. I’m really not sure what that was about. The Boy is kind of scrawny looking and too goofy to be very threatening.  

The rest of the ride home revolved around Nathaniel. Then The Boy commented on the rest of the family, who also attends our church. “It’s funny that they have the three older boys and then Priscilla is so much younger.” 

“Umm, she’s adopted.” 

“She is? I didn’t know that.” 

I just looked at him. “Really? Have you not looked at her parents? Does she look anything like them?” 

You see Priscilla’s and Nathaniel’s parents are missionaries to Pohnpei in Micronesia. Priscilla is a native of the island who they adopted as a baby. The parents are white. There is an obvious difference in skin tones, among other things. 

In some ways, this makes me proud of my son that he doesn’t notice what a person looks like. He is only concerned with friendship. If only we could all be so colorblind.

On the other hand, there are a lot of times he makes me just roll my eyes and wonder.