Okay his zombie obsession aside, I know I’ve gone on and on about being proud of my oldest a lot lately, but I really, truly am.

He is such a good, GOOD kid.

Today we were driving a long way and he was kinda bored. Forgetting for a second about the fact that it was Sunday and our family tries really hard to make the Sabbath a different day from the rest of the week, I suggested he read the book he’s been working on.

That book is Catching Fire, book #2 of The Hunger Games series.

Not exactly a ‘Sunday’ type of book.

On Sundays, we try to keep things G-rated, basically. Movies? G. Games? G. Music? G. And books even? G.

It’s a day of rest, and we try to take a rest from lots of things. Not just work, not just school, not from physical labors, but to rest our spirits, our minds, everything. We go to church. We talk or write letters to family. We do quiet activities together like play board games or work on a puzzle or take a family walk. We try to have less distractions and more focused, reflective time (if we can in the midst of our crazy kids’ craziness).

It’s good to take a break.

So anyway, Benjamin started to read his book, when Mike asked, “Wait — is that a good book to read today?” I was like Oh shoot…I suggested he read it…

So I said, “Well, if you’re going to tell him he can’t read it, tell him now, before he gets too much into it…”

Mike was quiet for a minute and then said, “He’s a teenager now. He should make his own decision.”

I looked at my Benj, and he didn’t really even hesitate.

But I did notice just the tiniest, slightest smile as he stopped reading right then and put away the book.

I said out loud, “REALLY??”

He was just like, “Yeah.”

Wow.

I don’t even know if I could’ve done that.

“There is no one giant step that does it. It’s a lot of little steps. ” -Peter A. Cohen