My son is turning 18

Well, I know what I was doing 18 years ago at this time... Anyone else able to make that statement!

I had just arrived home after a long day at work where I had spent my lunch hour shopping for a baby shower gift for a girl I worked with, stayed after work to attend her shower, driven home, made chicken and then sat down to eat it...

Only, I wasn't hungry!

For some strange reason I wasn't hungry.... Only within 24 hours I would wish I had forced myself to eat since the kitchen at the hospital would close after hours when I would finally become famished and want something to eat.

Little did I know but I was in labor and within the next 20 something hours I would be holding my first born and only son.


That was 18 years ago!

Those 18 years went by like a flash. They warned me that happens, but I didn't realize how drastic it would feel.

He turns 18 tomorrow and then he graduates... We homeschool, so his graduation date is actually a bit ambiguous. His diploma says May 31, but that is opening night for my daughter's spring musical, so our private ceremony will most likely take place the week before or the week after. Regardless, tomorrow will start the clock ticking for him to register for the draft, register to vote, and essentially being an official legal man.

Meanwhile, he still hasn't decided when he'll be ready to take his driving permit test to get a picture ID he needs to open a checking account which he needs to open a Paypal account which he needs to monetize his YouTube channel. He has, however, looked over enough of college to determine that he wants to wait a year before committing to that but will probably pursue a computer programming degree.

Yes, he is my prototype child who paved the way for the rest, and many look to him to determine whether or not my choice to homeschool was a sound one. Along the way, I would question my parenting choices over and over and over again. Time will still tell whether or not we served him well.

For me, he has always had a way of pushing me to my boundaries and searching out answers to questions I would never have dreamed up on my own. And, he knows how to make me laugh.

...If nothing else I can say that I was there every step of the way 24/7.

• I was there to experience every pain and every joy of his 21 hours of natural, non-medicated birth and to welcome all 7 lb. 10 oz. of his 21" screaming purple before he was fully birthed body!
• I was there to welcome him into this world and pray and sing over him his own song I wrote for him!
• I was there when he refused the crib and taught me to accept being a co-sleeping parent because sleep was more of a priority to me than Ferberizing the child.
• I was there to watch him teach himself to read fluently at the age of 3.
• I was there for the endless Elmo's Worlds and the retelling of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang hours on end as well as the many hours of Veggie Tales, Blues Clues, and Inspector Gadget.
• I was there to watch him help Grandpa put up a swingset and "chop" down a tree.
• I was there to watch him teach himself to program computers fluent in C# starting at about age 8 or 10.
• I was there to watch him learn to ride a bike, swim, and bowl.
• I was there to see him build his own PC.
• I was there to watch him excel at post-high school test scores before he had completed 8th grade.
• I was there for the day-long struggles asking why he had to learn math...Even though he was a natural at it when he tried.
• I was there to watch a light come on inside of him when he learned Hebrew and the power of prayer.
• I was there to watch his excitement to be going to Disney World!
• I was there for the drag-down fight of the transition into needing glasses, and I was there to watch him come to terms with the fact that he actually likes the way he looks in them.
• I was there for the pain and agony of TMJ caused by something gone wrong with his orthodontic treatment.
• I was there to watch him program an Android app for his robotics team and all of the frustrations and success that came with it.
• I was there when he began teaching himself Japanese.
• I am here to watch him turn into a man!

Even though I was there, I feel as though I still somehow missed the POOF that happened to transform my baby into a man!

I'm ok with whatever he chooses. See, he taught me to be a parent. I will never forget the way that little newborn looked back at me the first glance into his eyes. It was as if he was asking me, "Are you going to take care of me?" It's really a question he's asked all these 18 years and still does. There has always been a depth to his soul that few are able to reach in and share. I'm ok with whatever rate he takes on life and whatever he decides to do with his future. I've learned that rushing him or imposing my desires on him is not what is best for him. I'm ok with that, because he always shines when he's ready - in his time!

Well, here's to 18!