BooBoo restrospective

The day Lionel ran into the boat was a sad day for me. That was the day I realized I could not protect Lionel from the world. That was the day i knew he would have to go through life with a label on him. He was already so sensitive, so innocent, and for him to be only four when he heard that slur, regardless of what he thought it meant. He had already taken offence to that word and at that moment I wished we could have sailed off on that boat together. I didn't want him to know that people would hate him simply because he was different. I had known that eventually he would figure out what he really heard, but I wanted to keep that day as far away as possible. So i told him it wasn't a terrible word. I told him to protect him, to shelter him just a little longer, so that he would not have to grow up for a while, so he could stay a child a little longer, so i wouldn't lose him. I never talked to Sandra about that day, my husband did not care what she had said. He had grown up with it, but I just did not want Lionel to grow up with it. I'm sure she regretted ever saying it. Lionel has grown up now, hes become such a real man. Although his wife has convinced him to become a catholic, i still cannot help but feel that me saving him from that hate, if even for just one more day, has helped him keep his heritage, remain proud of it and made his difficult childhood a little better. That day we raced back to the house, Lionel won, I saw that determination in his eyes, and that's when i realized that although the future might be tough for Lionel, when he finally meets the tough real world, that he would be ready, and that he would meet it head on.