Dirt to Scratch and Eggs to Lay

With apologies to my friends who are raising chickens, this is what my mom said about our first born Ian.  When Ian was very small she would watch him play and said, "he has dirt to scratch and eggs to lay!".  I guess that meant he always did things with a purpose.  And he has!

Me and Ian at the Smithsonian 2004

Maybe it is the curse of being the first born or maybe it is because, even though he looks like his father, he has Karr blood running through him. Ian has always had great aspirations.  His Grandpa Bruce at the age of 17 wanted to leave his small town and make his way in the world with my mom by his side. Daddy graduated from Ohio State University (Go Buckeyes!) and fulfilled his ROTC commitment to the Army.  He went to Georgia for training and then to Germany.  Before Daddy was done with his military service he would travel to Korea, Japan, Hawaii and California.

I left my parents at the age of 17 to attend college and never really looked back. I traveled 1000 miles away to California and did not return home for almost 20 years. I had to make my way in the world. I was able to do it because I knew I was loved and encouraged to be the person I was supposed to be.

California is where Ian is returning to. It is his home. California is where he lived until he was 16 years old. We uprooted him and moved him to Tennessee where the people talk funny and you know your neighbors. He has friends and a church family in California to love him. Just as important is he has some opportunities there that he does not have here.  He would be like a caged bird in Tennessee. I could not do that to my child.

This is the young man who we let travel extensively on his own to a Sea Cadet Boot Camp on Christmas Day 2006 and to many church camps beginning at age 11. By the time Ian touched down in Tennessee he had traveled to 30 of the 50 United States.  As a young man he was traveled to Italy, Germany, Slovenia, and Austria.  Thank God he has NOT been to Iraq or Afghanistan.

So, with tears in my eyes, I put Ian on a plane yesterday morning. I wondered, was this the way my mom felt when she put me on a plane 35 years ago? It is so hard to let my baby go but I know he is fulfilling the Lord's promise of Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Summer 2014 in Myrtle Beach, SC