The Inocence Of Youth and The Age Of Reason , errr... umm Confusion

As I have been getting older, I arrogantly patted my own back congratulating myself on my well earned "supposed" maturing and thought, "Hey, now I am wise and shall go forth and spew my drivel at whomever I deem un-worthy." Basically, I don't know when to shut my trap and keep quiet. It seems if I should ever learn this vitrue, I will be at peace. Now, On to other things.

My twin step-sons have a friend that comes over nearly every day to play with them and this kid is an Eddie Haskell of sorts, but I adore him all the same and I am glad the twins have a good friend. He lives with his grandmother, who happens to be the same age as my husband, 43, and he is an inter-racial child from a severly dysfunction family but somehow he has risen above it all and is a very good kid. I like to kid around with him and tease him and he in fact reminds me of a friend I had from childhood until he was killed in an auto accident a few years ago.

Now, this kid, (we'll call him Eddie), is your typical boy, getting into boy trouble and your normal everyday thing with kids in general. Sometimes he would grate on my husband's nerves terribly, and myself too, and I have even grounded him from comming over to play, but something about the kid has always pulled at my heart strings. It was on friday that I realized part of it was him reminding me of my long lost friend and because of his less than desirable home life and me wanting to give something to this kid he could always remember and look back on and possibly even learn something.

And Today, around 1:30 pm he showed up and immeadiately wanted to see me,
His grandmother that he lives with had passed away on Sunday morning. All I could do was grab him and hug him. I am shocked to say the least, considering she was healthy and the same age as my husband and only 10 years older than myself. Eddie hung out here for awhile and I called his mother to make sure she knew where he was and she told me she knew because he had told her he really needed to come and talk to me. I broke down crying. My first thought was how sad he felt he needed me more than his mother, and my next thought was how undeserving I was of this connection to this child. When I told my husband what had happened, he spoke the words I was thinking and feeling, Eddie can come and live with us if the need ever arises and yes we are very serious about this. I am not sure if his mom is going to be able to take care of him and I want him to be safe and with people who care about him. The kid has been through enough. I pray, though that his Mom will rise to the cause and take responsible action. If not my family and I are going to be there......

Later