Henry's Special Gift

This is the story of Henry's owl charm.  About nine months ago, on our trip to Pennsylvania, Henry found a beautiful owl charm. It was one of his treasures, and he added it to his special collection.  Actually, he meant to add it to his collection, but instead, it stayed in the van, in the cup holder by Henry's seat.  He showed it to any of our van's visitors, and we all knew about this important possession.

One day, Henry's friend Jules rode with us to school.  Henry showed Jules the owl charm.  Jules brought it with him into school and showed it to many of Henry's classmates.  Within a few minutes, the owl charm was nowhere to be found!  Henry came home from school that day feeling pretty devastated.  Actually, it was the first day of his entire first grade year that he came home to report having a mediocre day.  He was nearly in tears telling me about the loss of the owl charm.  We talked about it carefully, and I assured him that he could ask his teacher about it the next day, and hopefully they could track it down.

Sure enough, the next day was one of the best days of Henry's life.  He came home and reported that the owl charm was, indeed, found!  He told me, "I was so happy that I decided I'm finally going to use the owl charm to make a necklace or bracelet for Jamie."

For Jamie?  Jamie Cook (my friend, and his friend Bryson's mom)?  

"Yes."  

How did you decide on Jamie and not some other beautiful lady, like your own mom?

"Well, when I thought of the idea, her name just popped into my head."

So Henry (and Ellis) worked hard stringing beads and making a beautiful bracelet for Jamie.

The owl charm (wish I had a better picture of the charm) has a new life.

Jamie was very flattered to receive Henry's special gift, and he was pretty proud of himself.  I'm proud of my boy for thinking of someone else and giving away something that is so important to him.