This young man has I don't think scarcely given anyone trouble his whole life. He was the quietest child. You could not ignore his quietness. You noticed it. In our loud mouth family it made him stand out.
I was surprised because he expressed such an interest in learning how to read. He could read before he ever went to kindergarten. That was fun. He was always looking for words, wherever we went, on billboards, on the sides of trucks, he would say, "Grandma, look, frito-lay-chips!" And of course on TV. It is funny how someone focuses on something if they aspire to master a skill. He and I were close as can be after his mom went back to finish college, and I looked after him during the day. Until she met and married the man who became a caring step dad to him. The only trouble he gave me was wanting to play games too long!
He has turned out to be the most gifted in math, but he stayed in the gifted classes all his school years.
He will be going to ASU this fall to major in business with a scholarship that will pay for his tuition as long as he keeps his grades up. He earned this Presidential scholarship with his good grades in high school.
Here he is when he was just starting out with his Uncle Dan.
He and I are taking a nap together. I think we look alike somehow here.
He is lifting his little brother, Ethan, here.
And of course his hair always looked different, dependng on the length, but everyone was fascinated with his hair. When he had some big hair about the same height as in this picture, his little cousin Dante who just started to walk came up behind him, look speculatively at that hair, and suddenly reached out and grabbed it with his little hands and pummeled it as fast as he could. It was so funny, but Jamal yelled, and Dante was dragged away. He tried a 'fro in high school, and then suddenly had it trimmed one day, and I dont know if we will ever see big hair on him again. Here he is with some big hair due mostly to his mom being too busy to cut it.
One of my favorite photos of him that I took at the civic center when his mom was graduating as a nurse last year.
