Tuesday, July 22, 2008

A Mom Moment

Last night V called and I got to share with her that I have had my first blog reader from Minot, ND. They had searched her by name and landed here, which I thought was cool. {Hi, Reader!} Of course, they got treated to a healthy dose of my sense of humor and more. But that was their own doing. LoL

This weekend she attended her first game of Changeling with some new friends and had a great time. She met a whole bunch of new people. And yesterday Corey came with her moving boxes and they finally met in person. He even took her to get something to eat and they chattered for a long time. (Even with me via speaker phone. V, you're supposed to tell people when you have them on speaker!! LoL)

After a good laugh or two V started sharing about her day and some of the interactions she's had with people since arriving on base. Most are very, very positive. Nothing to be concerned about.

The theme through all of her stories was that she has learned some pretty healthy ways to draw her own personal boundaries. This isn't an easy skill to learn but, especially being female in the military, it's essential. Put simply: I'll be nice and friendly and work or chatter with you for hours on end, but don't touch.

Neat thing was she expressed using these skills not only with people on base, she has used them in a healthy way in her personal interactions as well. Again, put simply: You own the responsibility for you and I own the responsibility for me. Your responsibilities, while I care very much, are not my problem, nor are they my crisis to resolve. Dang, that's healthy.

She's dealt with quite a lot of these situations and continues to do so in a thoughtful and definitive [read: adult] way.

Sunday evening and J is out with Ryan at Sam's house. Curfew was mutually set for 10:30. At 10:15 I get a text message saying they were sitting around telling jokes and could he be home by 11. He asked. In plenty of time to make it home if I had said no. The answer was yes, and he was in the door on time too. That was awesome.


Just last night I came home from work around 7:30. Joshua went out and grilled a couple of bratwursts for our dinner while I set the table and made salad and baked beans. During dinner I think the best word to describe the mood would be: Slap Happy!

Gosh, the kid was tired. It was well-deserved. He has a 5 hour long fitness class four days a week and then he and Ryan went to the gym together too! He wasn't tired... he was exhausted!

We cleaned up from dinner and he went to relax on the couch with his friend, the remote. After a bit I curled up with him. When V called I went to the other room where my phone charger was and we gabbed away for... nearly 2 hours!

Joshua, who has class this morning, made a really healthy choice and without reminder was out like a light in bed when I returned. This may not seem like a big deal to most, after all the kid is 16, but when he gets sucked in to the idiot box it sometimes takes crow bars to get him to take care of himself and go to sleep.

It's a case of maturity, and I'm really happy with it.

The signature line on my text messages currently reads:


- Proud -

2 comments:

Tonjia said...

you should be proud! You have two great kids there Lea.

Glad to hear V is making friends in Minot. How long will she be there?

Michelle said...

Hey Girl!! Glad to hear that V is doing well in her "mans world" and making it a "womans world". There must be a reason why all of us on the AFMD Group have such wonderful kids. Could it be because we are all involved with our kids? And that is why we are on the group to begine with? Makes you wonder. It is so wonderful to find that Corey and V have met and spent time together. How is the job hunting going?