Welcome to Middle School...

Last night "the teenager" was talking to Ryan and I about his "girlfriend", Mia, and disclosed he had "broken up" with her on the grounds that she doesn't really talk to him much...too funny because I remember having "boyfriends" when I was young and being too shy to speak to them...He went on to say that he was now "going out with"...where, I don't know...her former best friend whom he had been texting for the past 1/2 hour. We schooled him on the unwritten rules of dating an ex's friend to no avail, as he vowed to, in his words, "keep their relationship a secret.". I am cracking up at this point...Fast forward about 2 hours, "the teenager" comes downstairs to tell us that he just found out that while he thought he was texting his new girlfriend, Lexy, it was actually Mia who had Lexy's phone, and now knew the whole story and was going to tell everyone at school. Ryan and I laughed, and I said, "Welcome to middle school."

Later on last night, Ryan quietly called me upstairs to join him where he was listening to Austin...who was supposed to be doing his homework...on the phone with a girl...what girl, I don't know...What I do know is that this school year has been one filled with so many new experiences regarding "the teenager", from repetitive bathing, to sleeping late on the weekends, to dances with girls, to friends with parents I don't know, and now this. It is the strangest feeling watching your own child enter a phase of life you remember so well. After the humor of the situation of last night wore off, I began to realize the broken hearts and disappointments everyone endures during the teenage years inevitably await him...and I can no longer hold his hand and protect him.