Sweet Sweet Travis

Travis, aka Juicy, Hicks.  7 years ago he quietly snuck in, snuggled in as close as he could to my heart and decided to stay for a while. At that time, Travis lived across the street from Brock's office. He comes from a torn apart family, his father unknown, his mother a drug addict with mental problems and brothers and sisters in and out of jail.  But something about Travis exudes goodness and love. He has a quiet nature about him that turns playful and jovial when he knows you and trusts you. 

Over the past years we became a safe spot for Travis.  We wanted to be a place he could come if things were too tough at home, or quite frankly, if the only spot at home was a floor to sleep on.  He could stay with us as long as he was making the right decisions, in school and in life. Life is hard for him.  He is surrounded by family and friends that are making wrong choices and if caught in a vulnerable moment, could bring him down as well.  Travis has a soul that wants to do the right things but a heart that connects him to his family. He loves everyone with everything he has and will give you all he has as well.

For a couple years Travis moved down to South Carolina to live with his aunt and finish high school.  He thrived down there, and was the first in his family to graduate!  The day after graduation he packed his things up, came back to Asheville and moved in with us.  WHAT A BLESSING HE IS!!!!!   Everywhere we go the Travis Hicks fan club gets bigger and bigger due to his sweet demeanor and playful ways.  Fletcher, Hugh and Cooper absorb every minute they have with him and when he cannot be with us the house feels empty.  Now don't get me wrong, having a teenager in the house has surely had its trials, and I feel that God paved the way of teenagedom through Travis. We have certainly had to have the "heart to hearts" and even have had a car wrecked by him over the months. But the power of the love I feel for him is simply overwhelming.

This past week he let me know that he was going to move to Atlanta and live with his uncle, who is a healthy and trustworthy man.   It seems that the love he felt for his family here was taken advantage of, and no matter how hard he would work, they would find a way to manipulate him to pay for this and that until his paycheck was down to nothing.  He felt he had to leave town and get away from the negativity and pull of his family in order to make something of himself.

At dinner last night, while the children were pounding him with questions after questions about his move, holding back my tears I told them that I would prefer to talk about something else.  Well, kids being kids, they continued to ask Travis different questions and right there I burst into tears enough to silence the table (trust me, that is quite a feat). Though I am happy he is making a wise choice, my heart is hurting.  My oldest son is leaving the roost.  And I guess God is paving the way for that step as well.  In one week my home will be less one child and my heart will ache more that it does just anticipating the day.  But this family will always have a place for him.