TROUBLE

About my son. A thirteen and then something young man who has hit a few rough patches lately.

Dear Son,

You are now thirteen and some.
More manly.
A deep voice.
A new body with more angles.
Big Muscles.
Bad Attitude.
Bad Choices.

Bigger bad choices.

TROUBLE

Who are you young man?
Where did my little boy go?
Who stands before me with that deep voice demanding my respect so disrespectfully?

How much do I love you?

How much do I adore you?

You say less than before.

?

I say NO!

I love you . . .
Different than before.
More than before.


     Because you are different than before
     and more than before.

And that is exactly how I love you now.  
I love you
Deeper.  And more.  And differently.

TROUBLE

Trouble is what you get into.
Trouble is What you got into.
Trouble is What you got.

Baaaaaad choices.
Strong consequences.

TROUBLE

Yep.
Just like your mom,
Just like your dad,
and just like anyone who has ever been thirteen and some.


But son know this.
Even though I will take you to task for your TROUBLE,
and
Even though I will make you accept CONSEQUENCES,
and
Even though I expect your RESPECT when you do,


Please know that:

I KNOW you.  
I KNOW who you are.
--
I SEE you.
I SEE who you are.  
--
I UNDERSTAND you.
I UNDERSTAND Who you are.

And because of this, I do not fear for you.
Rather,

I trust you.
In spite of . . .

TROUBLE

See under this new rough, edgy, bad choice makin’, troubled exterior of this newer version of you...

Is still the person who has always been YOU.
Who I believe in
COMPLETELY and without reservation.
With all of my heart.

It is the YOU who always comes back to himself
even after the biggest mistakes.

Trust me.
I someone's MOM.  And I know stuff.

so...

I know you are

TROUBLE

But I know too that you are

NOBLE

And I know that your choices are only temporary stopping places
..... on your way home.


I believe in you son.
I believe in you.

Love always,
Mom

Author's Note

Pulled from my note to Emma Joy on her review: Truth is times with a teen are often challenging and very difficult. A LOT! Always expected they would be. But still, being a mother is my most noble calling. One I believe I was born for. Ours is journey I am so glad I decided to undertake. My child makes my life richer. Harder. Scarier. Frighteningly so. But still, I am so so much richer and better for learning to know my son.

Reviews

[lee von cleef]

A son,a mother,the noble two.The daughter needs to say NO, from the gut with a voice
that draws a line, in the mind of man or boy. The boy ,the man, needs to hear,listen,to himself ,But even deeper he needs to feel the love of his mother ,a aching weight in his heart that should be" home" a center of life to him.Tough to set boundaries,accountability, respect,empathy,perspective, Both give and receive.You made a believer out of me.

[Shelley Holt-Lowrey]

Lee - this is a re-write of "The Mom's Manual to Teen Boys. Thank you. For the validation of what I intuit his needs to be. Has always served me in the past and when intuition fails me - there is always something gumming up the works. Got the gum out! Working toward raising a man - who has a mom who believes in him totally!

[Gray Witch]

Love it! So true and poignant..... I will be back...I, too, write about family members ... I invite you to read some of my more humorous ones ...

[Zeek4]

Heart felt and touching. I can see you are a good mom.

[Shimmerbliss/CAF]

I loved this! Loved the content, and the way you wrote it. My son is about to be 24. They are a world of contradictions, little boy and man, but our love for them grows faster than they do. I know that in spite of the trouble they can bring themselves, that they feel our love and know it to be true. My prayer knees are calloused, but still in use.

[Shelley Holt-Lowrey]

Thank you C - you give me something to look toward. Mine is challenging. Knew it would be this. Didn't know it would be like this. I'm so dang tired of arguing. One more time - Claire hears Shelley. :)

[Shimmerbliss/CAF]

Loud and clear, and I know you hear my heart when it speaks! :)

[captain]

Sweet!!!

[Shelley Holt-Lowrey]

:)

[The Rock And Roll Cowbo..]

The pains of being and having a teenager... those years of finding yourself are chalked full of mistakes, then again so is our adult lives just now we are better equipped with the knowledge of how to handle them, well most of the time. Anyways I really love the unconditional love you express here.

[Shelley Holt-Lowrey]

Thanks so much for your comments. Appreciated. Every day is new and different. I often find myself saying things like, "Expectation + Lack of Execution = Consequences" Who the heck talks like that?

[Hamza]

beautiful piece of writing ..

[Shelley Holt-Lowrey]

Thank you so much!

[EMF]

We've got three. While they do grow up, they aare still always you're children. And while you might not always like them (sometimes even think of firing squads), you love them. They see it eventually. They come to know that you were right most of the time. And on the odd occassion you were wrong, they realise that you always loved them.
But they will keep remindind you that you were wrong. Time. Date. Everything. In detail.
Fact is, you wrote a wonderful prose/poem. It is honest, sincere and yes... loving.

But if you'd like me to have a word with him... I do have a particular stare that's quite effective.

[Shelley Holt-Lowrey]

Nice to know. I'm putting you on speed dial. Errrr speed video. YOU HAVE TO GET A DANG CAMERA FOR THAT THING!

[Pax]

wow, very expressive! moms really knows best...

[Shelley Holt-Lowrey]

:) Thank you.