Not Just Tax Day

When I save pictures to my computer, I am also able to tag faces in the pictures. (Thank you, Steve Jobs and your minions at Apple.) Some times at night, I go through old pictures tagging faces. I find it relaxing.  

One night, I was tagging a bunch of pictures of Carter. It was then that I realized he has the face of a man. He’s not this little, tee ball-playing boy anymore. He’s grown.

Where did my baby brother go, and who is this man who stands in his place?

Christmas pictures of Christmas past

We love the zoo.

I love Carter.

Love.

He is an athlete.

I fully believe most of his success in football and wrestling is because of all those years where he and I would fight and wrestle. While it normally started as fun and games, it always turned in to an intense battle. Someone always walked away either crying or spitting mad. I think a lot of his baseball success is in result of the many wiffle ball games we played in our front yard. We played with such competitive spirits; it was like we were in Warner Robins playing for the Little League championship. If he didn’t have all the prior experience, I don’t think he could have done as well on the field or mat. His coaches would have had a lot more work on their hands 

if I hadn’t paved the way.

Number 19, four years running. 

Wrestling was my favorite to watch.

He is a fisher.

I can’t say I had much of a direct influence in this area of his life. However, he is the only brother of three girls. I think Bailey, Ansley and I have inadvertently taught Carter a little about patience over the years. You must have patience when you’re surrounded by girls. When it was just Carter and I, we could fight and scream then it’d be over. When The Girls came along, Carter was older and couldn’t use his old tactics to solve problems. I know for a fact there were times when he wished he could bang all three of our heads together and settle the matter. He didn’t. He drew from his deep well of patience. All of his fishing pictures on social media are a round about result of living in the land of chaos, ruled by sisters. Waiting for the right bite can sometimes feel like you’re waiting for your sisters to stop bickering. Patience.

Photo by Angelina Bellebuono

Waffle House Christmas Eve 2012

Photo by Angelina Bellebuono

Photo by Angelina Bellebuono

Waffle House Christmas Eve 2013

He is intelligent.

Carter isn’t just smart. Smart is too simple of a word to describe his brain. He is intelligent. This is definitely not because of my doing. It’s only made me work harder over the years. It lights a fire under your rump when your younger brother comes home with better grades than you. His vocabulary never ceases to amaze me. Where he learns these words, I have no clue. His writing skills are ones that I envy. My senior year of high school, I was in my second year of psychology with Coach Head. Carter was taking a lower level psychology, also with Coach Head. One day, Coach Head told me that my brother was a marvel to him. Just that morning he had to get onto Carter because he was sleeping in class. Carter then proceeded to tell Coach Head everything he’d talked about in class. Of course I was proud of Carter after I heard that. Then, Coach Head had to ruin the moment and say “You two are nothing alike, are you?” Thanks, Coach Head. Thanks.

Sleeping in the car has always come easy for the Shultz kids.

We loved Caine.

G and Dad never know what they'll get when they
have dinner with just the oldest two. 

He is in tune with nature.

As cheesy as that line is, it’s true. Since he was little, Carter has always managed to find some creature to play with. Over the years, he’s caught numerous lizards, snakes, frogs, turtles and rodents. He always finds a way to talk G into letting him keep it. As a kid, he would stay outside for hours upon hours. Playing in the dirt, frying caterpillars with magnifying glasses, climbing trees. I’ll never forget when we found out Ansley was going to be a girl. Carter was so disappointed he wasn’t getting a baby brother. He burst into tears and asked my dad “Can we at least get a boy dog?” A “boy dog” would make up for the fact that he didn’t get his brother. Now that Carter’s older, he still stops to catch the lizards, snakes, frogs, turtles and rodents. Especially when there are little kids around, and Carter knows they’d enjoy playing with the creature. Carter would be the one to outlast us all if we ever had to survive in the wilderness.

He stopped fishing to catch a snake for his cousins.

Always bringing snakes home in pillow cases.

The little kids weren't the only ones to enjoy the snake. 

He helps his father.

Sometimes I think Carter has the raw end of the deal. He is always the one to work with Dad in the yard or at the farm. However, he makes it work. Very rarely will you catch Carter complaining about the hot, nasty, labor-intensive work he has to do. He takes some pride in how dirty he can get his work shorts before washing them. He doesn’t balk or question when Dad comes to him with an out of the box task to do. He works hard to get the job done, and get the job done correctly. He works hard so he can enjoy his time playing. When the thought crosses that Carter has the short end of the stick, I imagine what it would be like if it were Carter’s job to take care of the household chores. I laugh then think things are perfect how they are.

Photo by Angelina Bellebuono

He loves his mother.

Not that he doesn’t love his father… There is just a special bond between a mother and her only son. When we were growing up, I often found myself jealous of the relationship Carter and G had. He went through phases of different ways to get out of trouble. For a while, when G was getting onto him, he could just turn his head a certain way and make her laugh. Lecture over. There was a phase where he could start to sing “It’s Too Late To Apologize” in the middle of Mom’s sentence. Try as she might, she couldn’t keep from laughing. Lecture over. I would always stand back with a wee little bit of envy in my heart and the look of amazement on my face. If I did that while I were getting in trouble… As he’s gotten older, it’s been so sweet to watch their relationship grow and evolve. He finds little things to do that make her day. He’s found new ways to get in trouble. However, he still finds ways to get out of said trouble. Their deep aversion to taking pictures only strengthens their connection.

Football picture day sophomore year.

He has a huge heart.

Carter finds his own way to show someone he cares. Whether it’s making time in his busy schedule to support his sisters at their events, helping paint a gift for a family member or something he comes up with on his own. His senior year of high school, there was a Pink Out at one of the football games in support of breast cancer. The week before the game, Carter decided he was going to buy new cleats for the game. Pink cleats. Mom, Dad and Carter searched all over to find him pink cleats, but they could never find ones in his size. On the Thursday before the Pink Out, Mom called Carter and told him there were pink cleats in a size too small for him, but there were pink “boot covers” that he could put over the cleats he already had. He told her, “No, Mama, I have to have cleats. Get the too small ones.” The next evening, Carter played an entire football game in pink cleats that were a size too small and brand new. Not because he wanted to show out in his pink cleats, but because he wanted to honor our Gran. Our grandmother fought and defeated breast cancer before we were born. After the game, when Carter came out of the field house, carrying his pink cleats, he walked straight to Gran and handed her his cleats, saying, “These are for you.” There was not a dry eye in the small crowd that had gathered around. Carter found his own way to show he loved and honored Gran for her victory.

Making time to see Beast's play.

Instead of buying a gift, Carter brought Bay home
two snakes for her birthday one year.

I love Carter.

I cannot believe this is the day that starts his last year as a teenager. My prayer for him is that this next year, he will seek the Lord and His will for his life. Seek where God will have him go and what He wants him to do. I wish I could celebrate with him and the rest of the family, but there are about five thousand miles in my way.

One of my favorite pictures. 

Prom 2011

Happiest of happy birthdays, Bou! I love you and hope your day is filled with all the things you treasure. We’ll celebrate together in July.

God, thank You for Carter. Thank You for the many memories I have of and with him. I pray You guide his path. I pray he seeks You this next year and all the years to follow. Love on him today; send him all the big fish.

Proud sister,

Taylor Lea

Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near.

Isaiah 55:6