Drew's Graduation-Class of 2009

To Our Son, Andrew Thomas Crawford
on his graduation from Bearden High School
May 15, 2009

Dear Drew,

On February 10, 1991, God blessed our family with you. Because you were a modest baby, we could not find out if you were a boy or a girl prior to your birth, so when the doctor declared, “It’s a Boy!” we were overcome with joy! With your birth, we knew that our family was now all we could ever hope for! We had a beautiful, healthy daughter, and now we completed our family with a gorgeous, healthy son.

As you grew, we soon realized that you were given many indescribable gifts. The first one we noticed was your independence. You were content to play by yourself. Not that you were anti-social; you enjoyed your friends, but you didn’t need someone to entertain you; you could find things to do on your own.

Another early emergent gift was your artistic talent. Your pre-school teacher commented that she had never seen a child your age (18 months) with advanced fine-motor skills. You used to draw little circles all over your paper! By third grade, your creativity came through in obvious ways. I remember a specific assignment in which you had to imagine yourself as “one inch tall.” Your teacher took your picture and then you cut it out and had to place yourself in a setting emphasizing your diminutive size. You choose to inhabit the inside of your desk. I remember being in awe of your attention to detail and unique perspective.

This was the year we welcomed your little sister into our family and you were a fabulous big brother from Day 1! When Addie was born, you took up residence in a green vinyl reclining chair in our hospital room. Even though she cried and screamed constantly, you were a tolerant brother and she always seemed to settle down when you held her. I think she sensed your calm spirit and felt safe.

It was around this time that you discovered music. You could sing every word of any ‘NSync song! You also went on your first date with Coby Eldridge to see “NSync in concert.

When Sam was born, a little pressure was taken off of you as the only boy in the family. You now had someone with whom to bond. Lucky for Sam to have a big brother he adores!

In middle school, you discovered running. I remember when you started running cross country. You were pretty good from day one, but “pretty good” was not satisfactory to you, so you went to work! The summer between seventh and eighth grade you trained hard and pushed yourself to improve, and improve you did! So much so that when you ran cross country in eighth grade, you won the most improved award!

The four years of high school have been a blur! You continued to develop your skills in track, cross country, and art. You added video production to your repetoire, and again, we were amazed by your ability to capture angles and images that tell the story perfectly. Your love of music was a perfect complement to this gift as you chose songs that enhanced the story told by your pictures.

You became a pyro-maniac and a skateboard/bicycle daredevil! There is nothing you wouldn’t try! Although I had a feeling that you were risking your life every time you walked out of the house, not knowing the details until I saw the video, was a bit of a comfort for me.

Now, here you are ready to use what you’ve learned over the past eighteen years to figure out who you are and what your place in this world will be. I want you to know that I love you and I am immensely proud of you. When I step back and look at the man you’ve become, I can’t help but miss that little boy who used to declare, “You’re never to old to hug your Momma!” But I must admit that you are a man of character. People enjoy being around you for your quick wit, sense of adventure and easy-going personality.

I want you to know that someone in this world will be praying for you every single day. You can always come to me if you need anything and I will do my best to help you. You’ll always have a place to call “home.”

Love,
Mom