Dorothy working from Heaven...

On Saturday we went over to St. Pete Beach for a little gathering to remember Dorothy. There were a lot of family and friends there, which was exactly what Dorothy would've wanted. After an hour or two, the boys started getting antsy, but they were really well-behaved considering it was late afternoon and neither one of them had napped. Toward the end, some of Dorothy and Andy's friends showed up that I hadn't remembered ever meeting. One of them appeared to be Santa Claus. In typical RJ fashion, he walked right over to him and asked if he was Santa, to which the man responded, "yes, I am, and I'm on vacation at the beach." RJ said, "oh, well I'm RJ." And that was that. Jackson, being waaaay more timid and reserved around such characters didn't say a word, but hid behind Mamas and kind of just stared. Jackson's been kind of insecure lately, and not really the happy-go-lucky kid I knew a few months ago. It's sort of been worrying me a little, but the more I talk to people about it, the more I hear it's a normal phase. "He's 4", people say. Ok. Anyway, after a while he was getting very anxious and you could see it was kind of bothering him. He wanted to talk to him, but needed a push none of us could give him, but certainly not for lack of trying. Just at that moment, the man looked at Jackson and motioned him over. Jackson was reluctant, but honestly I think when it came down to it, he was not telling Santa "no". He walked over and stood in front of him and just stared for a minute. "Santa" held him and smiled, and talked to him, in just the way he needed to be handled. It really was sweet, and we were all trying to sneak in some pictures. Jackson was so pleased and happy afterward, and I swear that gleam in his eye I haven't seen in awhile was Dorothy. I have no idea who that guy was, but I know Jackson really needed that. So thank you, Dor;-}