Does this car have shoulder straps?

Sean’s off today and we have an exciting appointment with an oral surgeon to discuss the removal of Michael’s wisdom teeth. I thought only old kids had their wisdom teeth removed... Seems I can’t escape the fact that my first born is growing up. In the past few weeks I have faced:

• Michael’s 15^th birthday
• His driving
• His first job interview
• His first prom
• Buying his first suit
• Buying his first set of dress shoes (size 11)

These are significant events and adding the wisdom teeth extraction just put me over the edge. When the dentist informed me we needed to have Michael’s teeth pulled this summer I burst into laughter. I mean uncontrollable giggles that I could neither explain nor control. It was not one of my finer moments; surely the office staff thought I was the cruelest mom, laughing at the surgery my son must have. In hindsight I think it was self-protection.

I'm not so deluded that I think I’m the first mother to go through the transition from child to teen but this is my first time and I’m finding the experience both thrilling and terrifying. (Terrifying’s a bit strong but I liked the alliteration.) I always thought of the first five years being the years of most change. While I still think the changes occurring then are fascinating I am amazed at all the adjustments the teen years are bringing.

A mom several years ahead of me in this process told me to buckle up and hang on. At the time I didn’t get it; I do now. Some days it feels like I’m strapped into a slow-moving 1968 Bug; other days I’m hanging on for dear life in a ZR-1. Needless to say, this month has been more Corvette than Volkswagen.