This parenting-thing is pretty amazing. I think I know my kids pretty well, and I hope I am communicating with them enough. I try very hard to go beyond the routine interactions. Still, with teenagers, you're never sure if they appreciate it.
Last night, big boy comes into the kitchen while I am cooking dinner. This is the kid who always acts so intruded upon when I question him about his friends and the things I have learned from their MySpace pages. This is the young man who nearly gets me to hyperventilate when I realize he'll be 18 in just three short years! So, he begins to tell me about a girl in school who announced to her friends the day before that her mother had just 2 - 3 days to live following a long struggle with breast cancer. He told me the mother died this evening. I know this girl only through my snoopings through MySpace. I offer him some advice on what he can say, and he says she specifically said she did not want overt condolences from her friends. I told him the most important thing to do would be to not act differently just because he might feel like he wouldn't know what to say. He should still talk to her, greet her, and just be her friend. He agreed, and walked out of the kitchen. As he left, the little mom-voice in my head told me to ask one more question. I called out to him and asked him if he felt like giving me a hug. He immediately responded and said "yes, that is what I wanted to do but I didn't know how to say it". So he came back in and I gave him a good long hug. I think that will be in my top ten hug list forever.
Today, I vow to hug my kids more often, even the big ones. Especially the big ones.
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