Eddy’s Boots

The black boots with the crocodile skin were his choice.

If you haven’t met Eddy yet, you either have never been to BV or you’ve been there at the wrong time. He will spot your foreignness from the gate, and when you make your way to the school entrance, he’s on you in a flash. He will attempt his best at English, which is as good as it is because he works hard at it and takes the initiative to practice it any time he gets a chance. We’ve grown rather attached to him in our family. We love watching him progress and befriend our kids as if they were his own siblings. He knows that well. You see, Eddy is number 6 in the line up of 10 kids. He’s also 22 years old and in the 9th grade here at EDBV. He owns his own vivero, where he grows thousands of his own plants and sells them. Our property here houses many of those plants. 

Inside the store where Eddy picked his boots.

The Sunday-before-last, we had an opportunity to bless Eddy through some money left for him by a team member last month. His boots are in quite noticeably bad condition. We have a village not too far from here, Pastores, known for their leather-making skills. So our family, Britt’s family here visiting and Eddy all piled into the van to go buy some new boots. When we got to the first shop, he walked in, picked out a pair of authentic crocodile skin boots and his choice was made. I suggested he try them on as they looked a bit big. So he did. They were. He tried on a smaller pair. His choice was made. And he was ready to go. I asked if he wanted to look around, but no. These were the ones he wanted. The whole scene spoke so many things to me. About him. About his people. About the way he has grown up.

Eating in Antigua.

He was also given money for some clothes. So after lunch at a sit-down restaurant in Antigua, Britt and I took him across the street to a clothes shop. We told him to pick out some t-shirts and then some jeans. I’m not sure if he enjoyed the process as much as I did or not. Our two little guys were with us. And they crawled around on the floor under the racks chasing each other. The whole time, Eddy didn’t take his eyes off of them for very long. 

The entire day, Eddie was like our guardian…everywhere we went. When at Pastores shopping, he kept himself where he could see where we all were at all times. Especially the kids. Kate and Morgan stopped at a tienda while the others moved on. He placed himself at the corner where he could see the tienda and yet keep track of the others as well. It took me a bit to realize how he was being protective of us. And when I did, I relaxed a bit. I get a bit hyper paranoid with my little boys on the busy streets. 

After returning to the school, Eddy walked to the front where Julio, our security guard was waiting. He looked down at Eddy’s boots and said, “Where’s your horse?”