Loosening the old apron strings
OK, we let our 15-year-old go to the Warped Tour this weekend. Not his first concert, but the first one where I wasn't close by. Knowing that a friend of mine would be there and that some of his own friends would catch up with him, I dropped him off, alone, after a friend of his who he was planning to go with backed out at the last minute. Freaked me out.
Seeing the amount of security there and knowing my friend would be in the "reverse day care" tent for parents, I was relieved. This kid really earned the concert ... he's been talking about it all year, has been working hard all summer and just finished a particularly grueling week where he worked days and went to soccer camp in the evenings.
What really was strange for me was when it hit me that my most powerful emotion was a strange sadness at realizing how much he's growing up. Yet it was mixed with pride, too. He kept in touch by cell phone, reassuring me all was well, and dropped in to see my friend in the parents' tent a few times. He's a good kid, a hard worker (except for his room) and reasonably well behaved. When I got back from dropping him off Sunday morning, a neighbor asked when he will start driving.
I am sooooooo not ready for that.
Seeing the amount of security there and knowing my friend would be in the "reverse day care" tent for parents, I was relieved. This kid really earned the concert ... he's been talking about it all year, has been working hard all summer and just finished a particularly grueling week where he worked days and went to soccer camp in the evenings.
What really was strange for me was when it hit me that my most powerful emotion was a strange sadness at realizing how much he's growing up. Yet it was mixed with pride, too. He kept in touch by cell phone, reassuring me all was well, and dropped in to see my friend in the parents' tent a few times. He's a good kid, a hard worker (except for his room) and reasonably well behaved. When I got back from dropping him off Sunday morning, a neighbor asked when he will start driving.
I am sooooooo not ready for that.
3 Comments:
I'm predicting this kid will explode his first semester of college and become the Bluto of his generation. :-)
But remember, at the end of Animal House, Bluto grew up to be Sen. John Blutarski. So seven years of college didn't go down the drain, after all!
Should I teach him now how to do that trick with the mashed potatoes. "I'm a zit, get it?" Yuck!
LOL! You are a great sport, Clare. Just don't hesitate to put your son on "double secret probation" if need be. :-)
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