Hello Monday, all about my bonus son Alex.

 

Happy Monday, friends! I'm linking up with Holly and Sarah for this blog post. 

My weekend was pretty simple! Graham was out of town for a truck meet in Nashville, Drew was seen in certain portions throughout, Noah stayed with a friend all weekend and Jonah was out way past my bedtime each night. I basically saw them on Friday, for an hour on Saturday and not again until this morning. My husband worked the Memphis in May barbecue fest downtown on Friday night, so after my dad went home, I made Drew and me some cheese and guacamole quesadillas for dinner. They were delicious! When Drew left, I took a shower to get my hair washed for the weekend (it's a chore), then settled in for a night with Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze. Did you guess the movie? If not, we probably can't be friends anymore. (It's Dirty Dancing and it's my FAVORITE movie.)

As I was watching, I was scrolling through my Facebook memories and found one of my favorite pictures of Graham and Drew the night Graham went to junior prom with an old friend of many years.

Drew proceeded to pick him up after this and walked off with him in his arms, the younger son holding the oldest. Do you see why everyone thinks Drew is the oldest of my sons? He's really tall and his face is more defined. Everyone always thinks Graham is in his teens! He's 23 now and Drew is 22.

On Saturday morning I was up early, so I watched part of Sweet Home Alabama while I drank my coffee, then did some laundry while our dogs ate their first meal of the day, and went upstairs to get dressed to go to Alex's graduation. I know if you've been here for a while that you know about Alex, but for anyone new, I'll introduce him. Alex has lived on our street since he was about three years old and he is whom I consider to be my bonus son. For one reason or another, Alex was at our house more than he was at his own house when the boys were all young and if you were to ask me how I feel about him, I would tell anyone that God gave me a supernatural love for that little boy. He would be here for literal days on end, only going home when someone forced him, because all of his best friends were right here.

We live on a wonderful street and have for over eighteen years. There were so many kids here to play with! They always ended up at our house, because it was more central, or maybe because of the fact that I loved having a full house. Todd would come home from work in the summertime and find a house full of kids, some that he knew, some that he didn't. Aside from us as his bonus family, he also had a slew of bonus grandparents. I do feel like we had a definite role in helping raise him, especially as he grew older and walked through personal tragedy that no little boy should ever have to walk through. It bonded us to him for life and when I say that I love him, know that I truly love him like he my own son. He knows it and always tells me that he loves me in return before he walks out our back door.

Here's the handsome young man he's turned into now. He's a giant! Todd and I were so proud of him as we witnessed him graduate Saturday and when they announced his name, I couldn't help but let out a cheer. I wondered if he would ever make it through school, he was always so frustrated with it, but he accomplished what he set out to do and he even helped bring home the state championship in their basketball tournament they played several weeks ago.

Here he is Saturday.

I still get a little emotional thinking about this day for him. He plans on taking a gap year and then attending college locally. Until then he will work and enjoy being out of school! After his graduation we came home for a bit to check on our dogs, then we left again to go to his graduation party in Memphis. It was a great day! We just came home afterward and got comfy for the rest of the night. Todd watched Sherlock Holmes and I read my book. 

We were at church at the crack of dawn Sunday, then Todd worked again that night. Graham made it home safely from Nashville and I enjoyed a night in front of the tv. Like I said, it was a great weekend of celebrating our Alex. 

How was your weekend? What did you do? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog, friends! Love to all. ❤