Putting Down the Toilet Seat

I have a 13 year old son.

I was never a 13 year old boy, but I was a 13 year old girl.  To this day, I do not get the mind of a 13 year old boy.

Raising teenagers is by far more difficult then raising toddlers.  Sure, toddlers ransack the house and throw tantrums and find every excuse why they should not go to bed.

Teenagers want a thing called independence.

They really do know everything.

BUT they still want their parents to buy everything.

And they want to live at home, sleep until noon and leave their dirty dishes in the sink for mom to clean up.

Oh right AND they prefer mom to do their laundry as well.

And make them dinner.

But they want their independence.  Just as long as mom is still their to take care of all their needs they haven't yet figured out to meet themselves.

Hmmmmm...

I had this amazing talk to with my 13 year old son the other day.  We have had it before, but this time it was different.

He now has a girlfriend.

He is super grumpy in the mornings and he can have a horrible attitude about everything I ask him to do.  I finally had it.

I sat him down and told him one day he would be married or have a domestic partner and if he ever spoke to her the way he spoke to me and his sister, I would drag him by his full grown adult ear and make him apologize to his lady.

I am not raising an ungrateful, disrespectful boy. 

I expect him to grow up to be a gentleman. 

I expect him to treat his lady like a queen.

I expect him to open the door for her.

I expect him to love her the way she wants to be loved.

I expect him to see her as the angel she is and love her as such.

I expect him to be faithful to her and to always be honest.

And yes, I expect him to put the toilet seat down for her.

I know, silly, right?

Or maybe not.  You know how awkward it is to sit down on the toilet, in the middle of the night and fall in because some man/boy did not put the seat down?  Yeah, not funny.

This time while talking to him about how to treat a woman, I saw a light bulb flicker on.  I think it is because he could actually put a person in those images and it made sense to him. 

I hope as he gets older, these things will make even more sense. 

I want the best for him.  I want him to be in love.

I want her to stay with him, even after they tie the knot.

I have been married twice.

Both of them said the same thing and this is something my son will not be raised to believe.

"I already got ya, so why do I need to keep trying."

So they stopped "trying".  One was a drug addict and is now passed away.

He was my 13 year old sons dad.

His step-dad was the other one and we are now divorced.

I am not saying this is the reason I divorced these men, but I will say, their lack of showing me continued love and support did not help our marriages.

Now the man I am with is nothing like this.  He continues to court me, even though he has me.  He continues to show me love, the way I want to be loved, even though he has me.

This is how I want my sons to be raised and this is the kind of man I want my daughter to compare every guy she dates to.

My kids deserve the best.

Sure they may know everything now.

But someday they will know even more.

Gratitude

Dreams… I have not always been following my dreams.  In fact, there was a time I thought I was too old to go back to even dreaming.  Then I attended Impact Trainings and my whole life and perspective changed. 

I remember before these trainings I would look at others accomplishments and successes and I would feel the twinge of jealousy, sadness and a feeling of failure in some way or other.  I was happy for them, but sad for my lack of success in the world.  Sure, I had received a bachelor’s degree.  And I had created two amazing children, which in my eyes were my number one success and still are (along with the third rugrat as well). 

However, I had lost my way when it came to my passion. 

You know… that one or many things which makes your heart feel free and flying.

Writing has always been it for me.  I began writing when I was very young, along with reading anything I could get my hands on.  There was something about disappearing into the land of fantasy and fiction and I could not get enough of it.  English and writing were my favorite subjects in high school and college and I continued to write as much as possible.  However, after marriage and kids my path changed significantly.  I would read on occasion, but my writing became less and less.  I was losing my passion in life and I did not even see it coming.

It was not until these trainings that I remembered I could still have these dreams and passions.  I could pick up where I had left off so many years before and do what I love most in life.

At first it was small.  I began my first blog and wrote small entries here and there and it felt satisfying.  It wasn’t that I got a mass amount of traffic, because I didn’t.  The part that was fulfilling was writing what I wanted and putting it out there for the world to see. 

A few years of blogging small, I began pushing my blog out there for others to see more of.  To this day it is not a top blog (not even close), but I get regular traffic, even when I have not written anything for a while.

I also began writing my novel.

Seriously, this was my thrill!

My passion was becoming more and more alive!

It did take me four years to finish, re-write, edit and then finally publish on Amazon, but I did it.  Some say self-publishing an e-book does not make you an author and maybe they are right, however I do not worry about those people.

I am doing.

I am not sitting around waiting for life to happen.

I am following my dreams and passions.

I am happy!

I feel successful. 

I also am very aware this is only the beginning and I am okay with that.  I am excited to move forward and see where life goes.

I have an amazing support system.  Friends and family who jumped in.  They did not wait to see if I would be successful.  They did not sit back and see if others responded first.  They jumped in with both feet and have supported me from day one. 

These people are my heroes.

They are the people I look at with admiration.

They did not question my abilities as a writer.  They believed in me without the proof.  

I am full of gratitude for these people.  I am the lucky one to have people like them in my life!!

I am on my third month with my book on Amazon and I am working on the second book.  I feel excited for my life.  Yes, writing is not the only thing that creates this excitement in my life, but it definitely is in my top three!  

I appreciate everyone who takes the time to read my blogs, follow my writings and shares in my success.  Thank you for taking the time, because as a working mother I understand the lack of time in a person’s life!

For those who are seeing this for the first time, the link to my e-book is below.  If you feel you could take the time to download it and hopefully read it, I would greatly appreciate it.  And as always, let me know what you think.  Feedback is my drug right now.  I want to know how I impact others.  All of it, even the bad.  So, please post a review on Amazon, my blog, facebook, email or even PM me. 

http://www.amazon.com/Theias-Moons-Eyes-Wide-Shut-ebook/dp/B00K4G8SBS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405462158&sr=8-1&keywords=theia%27s+moons+eyes+wide+shut 

Thanks friends!