Busy Watching My Son Grow Into a Man...

Remember that song from Fiddler on the Roof, Sunrise, Sunset ? I feel like I can hear that playing in the background around my house these days! Son #1, the fourteen year old, seems to grow and evolve every day. It's both scary and a blessing as we struggle to ascertain the proper limits and maintain those open lines of communication.

On Saturday night at his football game we had "Senior Night", which is one of those ceremonies where the players leaving the team this year are recognized. The boys hand their parents flowers and greet them at mid-field. I think of that red carnation as a symbol of thanks for the many hours spent driving, sitting next to fields, and laundering things that are too scary to touch with bare hands!

I brought the carnation home and stuck it next to the sink to remind me to have a good attitude this week, thinking it would be dead by Sunday morning and I could go back to my well-worn stressed out attitude...that darn carnation is still blooming this morning! Every time I look at it, it's a reminder of that hug and "thanks mom!" I got on Saturday night. With the season waning, perhaps those petals will stay red long enough to get me through the next few weeks...and then it will be basketball season!