5 Year-Old Life Changer

Monday, boy can Monday's be hard. What is it about Monday's that makes it so rough. Is it that we aren't prepared yet for the week yet, and to prepare us, Monday is just awful so we can learn and be stronger for whatever comes next. Ok on to Story Week...

I talked in an earlier blog about those moments that we have that define us as a person. I will share one of those moments today.

This is Charleston and me.

It was in April of 2012, I went on a trip to Belize. It was life changing. I learned more about myself than I ever knew before. I learned how to be strong, I learned my limits are farther than I ever knew. Life changed for me. I learned how to love. I met a 5 year-old boy named Charleston. He loved so easily and so purely it was incredible. He had literally nothing. His life was nothing to those around him, but he was so happy and so loving. When I met him he walked up to me with a Frisbee. He was so cute, half my height big brown eyes and dark dark brown skin. His clothes had holes and dirt everywhere, but his smile was white and breathtaking. His laugh was adorable and would cheer anyone up. He was a snuggler too, if you picked him up he wouldn't let go. And he latched on to me. He walked up to me with a bright green Frisbee, he wasn't looking to play; he was looking for a friend and he found me. I took the Frisbee and hid his face and said "Where did you go?" He laughed and pulled the Frisbee down saying "HERE!!" I said "OH there you are!" That was the start. He grabbed my waist and hugged me, so tight I can still feel his little arms wrapped around me. Everyday after that he would wait for me in village, and when he would see me, he would yell my name "ANDREA" as he would run, arms open wide to me. I would hug him and pick him up and carry him everywhere I went. By the end of the day I would be covered in dirt because he never had clean clothes and we would play so many games. One day I walked by his house with the group I was with, he saw me from the window and he ran out to me, again yelling my name with open arms. I knelt down and talked to him. Everyday he would ask me if he would see me tomorrow and it broke my heart when I knew that someday soon I wouldn't see him tomorrow. I remember the last time I saw him as he walked away, then turned around and said 'Bye" with a wave. One day he told me he loved me, and I looked him in the eye and said "I love you too Buddy!" He smiled and hugged me. He changed my life. He showed me it doesn't take time to love, it just takes heart. He showed me that no matter what I can be happy, and I can love no matter what.