I Pledge Allegiance

5:30 a.m. Bet you were asleep. I would have been too, but that’s when things start to percolate around my house.

Charley is a lot of things. He’s funny. He’s playful. He’s a great big brother to our two cats, Gizmo and Gravy Train. He’s also patriotic.

This morning while most of the United States was in dream land (it was, after all, 5:30 on a Sunday morning), I was awakened to the Pledge of Allegiance. Probably the TV, I thought. Or, Charley’s radio. Or, my imagination.

I listened closer. It couldn’t be the TV; we have ground rules in our house. No slamming the front door, no stubbing your toe and yelling, no fussing at the cats, and no TV blaring until everyone is up.

I tiptoed to the living room, and there, standing at attention with their hands over their hearts were Brad and Charley, holding up a flag and reciting the Pledge.

Charley’s voice was ernest: “Pedz legenz to flag, states Mewaca. To public stanz, nation, God, justice, all.”

I tiptoed back to bed, crawled in, and I have to admit I giggled under the covers.

And why not? I half expected him to be cutting up and laughing, but he was dead serious.

The pledge at 5:30? Then it hit me. During the opening ceremonies of the Olympics he kept watching the TV, asking, over and over, “Where’s me?”

I thought he was joking, until it occurred to me that he expected to see himself in the processional. He kept watching, then bouncing up and down on the couch when he thought the next face he would see would be his.

He looked at me with this perplexed expression like; I do fit into that category, don’t I?

“You are here, Charley, cheering for the Olympians. Just like when you are at the Special Olympics, other people cheer for you. Sometimes we are meant to watch from the sidelines.”

He cheered when Gabby Douglas won the gold in gymnastics, and when Michael Phelps swam his way into history.  He watched as the National Anthem was played and the flag was raised. He consoled Phelp’s mother when she lowered her head and cried. “T’s okay,” he said, “No sad. No cwy.” (You can't explain tears of joy to Charley)

I couldn’t help but think of how Dad would have loved that. Dad was a true American - one of what Tom Brokaw calls, “The Greatest Generation.”

Charley won’t ever go to war. He won’t leave his family for months at a time. But that doesn’t mean he’s not proud to be an American. He’s been watching the Olympics all week, and his support of the Olympics has been pretty great, even if it has been from the couch.

This morning, at 5:30, hearing him recite the pledge with his Daddy reminded me of just how great it is to be an American. And, to have an Olympian in the house. 


Even if it is a Special Olympian.

Gizmo
reluctantly poses on the podium after being presented with one of Charley's gold medals