A New Girl

My son is "special".  Actually I think my son may be a typical teenage boy.  Clueless.  But he is learning.  I think one of the hardest parts of parenting this age is watching them run toward disaster and realizing the only thing you can do is stand by them and help clean up the mess when it is over.  That is certainly what I thought I would be doing at this point but somehow no matter how big a disaster it seems like it is going to be Jake always lands on his feet and comes out smelling like a rose.  I usually find this trait a little annoying in people but since he is my son it seems a little less annoying on him.

What am I talking about?  2 girls, who are friends, battle for my son's affections and at the end of it everyone remains friends.  It could have been messy but we tried to give him wise counsel and prayed he would take it.  In the end he did choosing the girl we preferred (although both were on the approved list).  And the other girl who had asked him to her prom, he thought as friends, was let down easy and with plenty of time to find another date.  I am sure there are some hurt feelings but in the end I believe all will remain friends.

So who is this new girl.  Her name is Jade.  Jake first became friends with her at his first Jr. High summer camp with the church he attends on Wednesday night.  He was just about to enter 7th grade and had become aware of girls that previous year.  The night of pick up they bring all the kids and parents together and show a slide show of the week as well as telling us a little about what the kids learned at camp.  I am sitting next to Jake watching the slides mostly of kids I don't know pass by and he leans over and quickly says something in my ear.  "What??", I say.  "I met those girls", he says. At least 3 more slides have now passed.  What girls?!  A minute later he says it again and again I am too late.  I wanted to stand up and yell, "STOP THE SLIDE SHOW!  MY SON MET SOME GIRLS AND I MISSED IT!"  Jade was one of those girls.  I did eventually meet those girls and Jake has remained friends with all of them (in fact that other girl in the above senario was also one of them as was his first girlfriend.  Clearly a fateful event in his life.)

So we are on to new adventures.  Jade only lives a few blocks from our house and can already drive.  This is turning into a new experience for us as they have already gone on several friend dates where she picked him up and we didn't have to coordinate our schedules to accomodate his.  How long this new relationship will last and what new adventures it will take all of us on I do not know but it certainly will not be boring.

OH and I learned a new phrase for all of you trying to keep up with teen lingo. FBO stands for "facebook official".  Although Jake and Jade decided to be "in a relationship" on Tuesday they were not FBO until Wednesday night after Jake had talked to the other girl.  I guess now after this post it is also MBO, mom's blog official. ha ha.  OK those are the kind of lame things I say to Jake and his friends to solidify my status as old foggy.