A WHOLE NEW ME...

Thirteen years ago, I went through a major change in my life. I was no longer the carefree, no worries 20-ish year old. That day changed forever who I would be.

Thirteen years ago, I became a mom. It was a Thursday. After 14 long hours of labor and delivery, at 5:41pm, my first son was born. I fell in love immediately. No one can ever make me believe that love at first sight doesn't exist.

The Teenager, as he is now ~officially~ known, came into my life as this sweet innocent little baby. He is now this obnoxious, annoying person that, the majority of the time, I can only say "get away from me" to. He's learned where and how to activate every one of my buttons. Why he does this, I still haven't figured out. We do have our wonderful moments occasionally, though. They're just not as often as they used to be. We're working on having them more often. I'm trying to be more patient and he's trying to be less annoying (or so he says). We'll see how this new mom-to-teenager relationship goes.

I cut him slack because I know, just as my whole life changed 13 years ago, his life is changing constantly now. He's becoming a brand new person. He's expected automatically to be more responsible, to make better decisions, and to be more grown up all the while, strange hormones are invading his system like mold invading the block of cheese in my refrigerator. No one sees it happening, it just creeps up and there it is. Plus it begins to stink.

I'm still in love with this wonderful creature that came into my life those many years ago. I just have to learn to accept the new person he's becoming, whether I like it or not.