Jonesie Bug & Freddie Bear: Freddie Bear Learns a Life Lesson

As a service project, the HCA Early Learning Center (also known as "Freddie's preschool") just participated in the St. Jude's Trike-a-Thon. The kids raised money (Freddie's goal was $100, and he made it to $126, thanks to both sets of grandparents and the Pressley Group's Benevolence Fund, which didn't exist, until I just now named it that!) and learned bicycle safety every day for a week.
The whole thing culminated last Friday when the entire preschool rode in the Trike-a-Thon.

This was one of the cutest events I have ever been a part of. As a service project of their own, the elementary students served as the littler kids' "pit crews." They did everything from washing bikes to passing out water bottles to walking alongside the little boys and girls who were worn out from nearly ninety minutes of pretty persistent pedaling.

Oh, and Jones did a fair amount of dancing.

As he does ...

Both boys were assigned to the Purple Jelly Beans team. This, of course, made for the perfect opportunity for all of us to show our Paladin pride, because honestly. What other article of purple clothing would a little boy who wants to name his future sons Bo and Luke Duke (as Jones announced last month) have?

Jeremy dropped off Freddie's Hot Wheels bike and his Spider-Man helmet after letting the boys out at school. Then, he and I showed back up at HCA right around 10 a.m. I'd been asked to take pictures for the preschool, and Jeremy was there, just because he's a good daddy who is blessed with the luxury of leaving the office whenever he wants to, so long as there isn't a client sitting across from him (seriously. I do not discount the gift of this).

Freddie did great for the first 30 minutes or so, and Heaven knows, Jones was MADE for HIS role as official cheerleader and tire cleaner. But just before 10:30, I saw Freddie walking in the bike lane, as opposed to riding in it.

"I'm scared," he told me when he got to me, giant crocodile tears streaming down his face. The crush of 36 boys and girls on bikes was making him nervous. Exacerbating the whole thing was the fact that he'd been up the nite before, scratching his eczema. I'd finally given him some Benadryl around 1:30 a.m., hoping it'd calm his skin down enough to let him get back to sleep, so he was tired - and itchy - and, understandably, uncomfortable with how many tiny tires were racing around a tight track.

I held him and gave him some water and reminded him that God is his Helper and that He is always with him. Both Jeremy and I prayed with him and let him rest for a minute but also told him that he HAD to finish his race, that God calls us to run the race with patience. It was MONUMENTALLY important to me that Freddie not give up.

Obediently - but timidly - he got back on his bike. Not long after, I noticed the super sweet school-wide Teacher's Aide walking along side him. She'd seen him struggling on the other side of the course and walked with him, every lap, for thirty minutes or more. When his teacher, Mrs. Burke, offered to walk with him instead, Freddie said he wanted to stay with the aide, Mrs. James.

Soon came time for a race-wide popsicle break. When the resting was done, Freddie hit the course again, this time with Mrs. Burke on one side and the brother who loves him more than he'd be willing to admit on the other. It started to rain, so just after the kids got back to riding, the teachers decided they'd just go three more laps. Mrs. Burke and Bobby Jones walked each of the three laps with Freddie, and when the race ended, a jubilant five year old ran over to me and said, "I want to give you a hug, Mama! I did it!"

He did! And in doing it, he learned the valuable lesson of perseverance and also the importance of coming alongside those who need a little help. As I told Mrs. James in the thank you note I gave her after school that day, "The lessons of this morning will last that little boy a lifetime."

When I picked him up from school yesterday, Freddie repeated something that I assume Mrs. Burke told the class that day. "We didn't have a winner for the Trike-a-thon. The REAL winners were the kids of St. Jude's," he said, rightly acknowledging that the money raised would go to help those sweet, young patience.

But Freddie, for finishing a race that he wanted to quit, will always be a winner in MY book. I have rarely been more proud of him that I was then.