Enjoying The Journey

I've been sporting a bit of a headache the last few days, so we decided to take it easy this evening and watched a bit of TV. There was a show on TLC about Nanny Jenny, or some such or other. It made my headache worse.

The show surrounds a professional nanny coming into people's homes who have completely out-of-control children. The nanny has a few days to a week to begin the process of re-training the parents and setting some boundaries for the children. Yes, re-training the parents is the focus. Holy cow!

When my son was very little, I knew I needed to teach him proper behavior and expectations as young as possible. I figured he should learn them early before the cost to both him and me grew too great and he became an out-of-control teenager. I'm so glad I chose to invest in his future at that age.

During the two to three year old stage, I went through weeks at a time when he would test my patience and push as hard as he could. I'd come home from work and it would start immediately and would go into bedtime. Those weeks were so awful for me because I felt like the Wicked Witch from Hell, but I kept telling myself we'd eventually get through it. Kept telling myself that I was doing both him and myself a huge favor in the long run.

Now I look back on that past investment and already see enormous rewards and gains for my son. See, everything I did back then - yes, it helped me eventually, but in reality it was all for his benefit and to contribute enormously to his future.

Now I do admit, my son has been a good kid for most of his years. He's been pretty easy-going in most cases, but I wonder from time-to-time what he'd have become if I hadn't made those difficult decisions to discipline him when younger. He's got an incredibly bright future ahead of him. He'll be sixteen in less than two months. No mother could be more proud of where he's at right now.

Now I'm just along for the ride, enjoying the journey while it lasts. Git along, little doggie!

Oh Faithful Readers

I'm going to be out of commission for the next week, so my dear, faithful readers I certainly hope you'll come back to read my rants, raves, and gushing over my son and kitties.

Speaking of my son, I just love summertime when he sleeps 'til noon. I remember doing the same thing when I was his age. Some parents don't like their children to sleep in during the summer because then they get off of their "schedule". They're teenagers, for crying out loud! For a brief period of their lives let them stop and just relax. They've been to school, daycare when they were little, they'll have jobs in another year - for now just let them be and enjoy living for once. A few of we adults could benefit too from a few extra zzzz's or just plain relaxing for a spell. You now have my permission to take a load off. :-)

Never fear - I will return!

Wait a minute. Is that a good thing?

A Banner Year

I'm so proud of my son! The men's choir at school (of which he was invited to be a part as a freshman) scored all 1's at regionals last Saturday, therefore they are going to state competition. This has truly been a banner year for him.

First the big trip, then regionals, and now state. He is feeling very good about life right now, and I couldn't be happier.

You know, I realized something over the weekend. I'm not just proud of my son for what he does, but I'm proud of him just for who he is. So many people used to tell me just to wait for the teenaged years because then it gets rough. But in his case, they've been wrong thus far.

He doesn't smoke, chew, or run with girls who do. He doesn't drink or curse. His friends are a great influence on him, but I've also noticed that my son has a deep inner strength in knowing what is right and what is wrong, knowing who he is and what he does and doesn't want to do. So far he's really listened to that. I wonder sometimes how much the difficulties we've faced have influenced his strength of character. It's a very interesting thought.

I've told so many people over the years how proud I am of my son but realized I wasn't doing a good job of telling him. So I told him this weekend how proud I was of the man he was becoming. Seems like he was happy to hear it.

These next few years will be an interesting ride, and I can't wait to see how they turn out for him.

Success!!!

Trips can be a great bonding experience. This one succeeded in droves.

I was a nervous wreck driving to the school to pick up my son yesterday evening upon their return from the choir trip. You see, he was severely bullied when he was younger and has struggled since that time in making friends. He tends to hang back and study people. Therefore he is labeled as shy by teachers and his fellow students. Being misunderstood can really mess with one's mind. That's why this trip was so important to his overall continued progress. We've fought an uphill battle for many years, and the outcome of this trip was key to his continued forward momentum.

The moment he came barreling from the school building (he was helping gather bags from the buses), I breathed an enormous sigh of relief. From his body language, smile, and interactions with fellow students it was quite obvious he'd enjoyed a wonderful time. When he saw me his face lit up like a lightbulb, and he ran over and gave me a great big hug right in front of his fellow students. It brought tears of joy to my eyes.

He talked non-stop all the way home. They'd had a successful raid of the awards and ended up bringing home six trophies from the competition. All three of his roommates were great guys, and he even was able to tell me their names and grades (shocker for him to remember such details). Of course, the biggest success of the trip to him was getting invited twice to sit with a table full of girls. The biggest success to me was that he'd thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it.

And he's ready to go back next year.