Raising a Teen, an Update and Def Leppard

I am going to share with you the craziness of my days and why I need my children to be back in school right now. On Monday, Nico had a football thing to do. He wasn’t thrilled about doing it but if he wants to play football, he had to do it. He came home upset because it wasn’t what he was told it was going to be.  He is a moody teenager these days and I understood why he was upset so when he asked me to go to a friend’s house, I let him. He was gone all day and into the night. He is 13, not 18 and I am tired. I am a night owl but I am in the process of weaning Gia off the bottle so I am TIRED! The next day, he didn’t get up until noon.  He found out he and two of his friends had to go back to the football thing. They were not happy. There were many discussions about the fact that it wasn’t really about football (or baseball or basketball for that matter). It was really about honoring a commitment and giving your all once you do. That is what I want my son to learn through the sports he plays. I want him to learn that when he is part of a team, he has to give his all so that he doesn’t let his teammates down.  I want him to rise to the expectations that coaches have for him. Anyway, I am telling you this because what followed was a complete comedy of errors and chaos that if you don’t laugh, you go crazy. My good friend and the mom of one of Nico’s best friends picked him up and we had one of the boys upset because he didn’t want to wear a sleeveless shirt because the other boys weren’t so he was putting another shirt over it in 100 degree weather. One of the other boys was reading his texts from his dad who really wanted him to have his gloves and asked if our friend would go back and get them which led to a discussion of opportunities and giving 100%. Then you had me, on the phone with Leo who was saying that they didn’t really need gloves but that Nico should be wearing a sleeveless shirt because it was really hot and Nico saying he didn’t know where one was. I was yelling the messages as my friend was driving away, in a hurry to get the gloves  and to the outside eye, it probably looked like she was taking them somewhere fun because we were laughing at the craziness of it all. In reality, all three boys were mad that their day came to a halt because they had to go to this workout. That pretty much sums up how I feel raising a teenager. He looks like he is fine one minute or on the outside but the next minute or underneath the exterior, he is miserable. Who would have thought I'd be hoping school would start?

On another note, Tommy made the baseball team he tried out for and like I said even though he is happy he did and we are happy for him, there is a sadness for his friends that didn’t make it. He’s played baseball with some of them ever since his first year playing and we have become good friends with a lot of the parents. We were hoping to be on this crazy journey together.  I sat where they are sitting and had those discussions that they were sure to have had and my heart goes out to them. I know we are all good enough friends and the boys are good enough friends where it won’t matter but it sucks all the same.

I was without a computer and still am having some trouble. I learned something else: I RELY WAY TOO MUCH ON MY COMPUTER! I had a lot I wanted to blog about. I went to the Def Leppard concert and though it was fun, you know the emails about the people that are at Walmart? Well this concert was Walmart supersized. I don't care how old Joe Elliot is or what he looks like, I love him. Def Leppard was a part of every milestone in my youth so for that, I will always love them and him.