Survival of the Teen Years (Halleluia!! We Did It!)

Our son just turned twenty. There were days I thought this birthday would never arrive...or at least that I would actually live to see it. Why, oh why, are those eight years so crazy and intense?? Would someone please explain to me why one...just one....teen would FINALLY get it and say "Ok. I will be happy to do what you ask." OR "Yes, thanks for the advice. I'll take it!" Really. It would only take a single child to start the trend. Soon their friends would notice how calm and tranquil the life surrounding their buddy is and perhaps they, too, would try a smile and a positive answer.

Oh, my gosh! Can you visualize the look on parents' faces all over this country if that happened??? Total shock and confusion. First they would grab their child and pull them close so they could place their hand on their child's forehead checking for wildly hot fever or grab the phone and call the principal checking on any wild experiment the Chemistry teacher had the students drink or maybe turn on their TV to check for an emergency news bulletin announcing that aliens had landed, stolen all the kids in the area and replaced them with identical looking robots.

I used to say to my son, "Why don't you try something different starting today? If you'd only say "WOW! Think I'll listen today and just simply do as I'm asked. then your life would good and so darned much easier and we, your parents, would be so much happier and off your case." No more dramatics, no more loud arguments, no more high blood pressure, no grounding as a punishment, no more slamming doors...... OK, you get the concept here. But he never did give that a whirl. Not once. (His reply 99 percent of the time? "Why". One little word that drove me over the edge on more than one occasion. To every single request or idea. Tell me that didn't get old. But at least we were prepared for his trademark response and I guess in a strange way it did lend some normalcy to all the many situations we found ourselves thrust into.

So I'm still waiting for that one kid that is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice and utter the one three-letter word that will forever change the world as we know it. Y-E-S. Hope springs eternal for my lifetime. (Pay no attention to the sarcastic overtone. Even Pollyanna had her days.....)