Today is my son's thirteenth birthday.
The milestone that marks the beginning of officially being a teenager. The doorway to manhood, the edge of reason, the beginning of the end...
The age when he will no longer want to publicly be seen within 20 ft of dear old Mom and Dad. When he will think it's manly to nonchalantly try and work words like "damn" and "hellavu" into a sentence. When he will need deodorant. Lots and lots of deodorant. When the funky voice things begin...
Ah teenagers. God love them, nobody else can.
And it seems like only yesterday he was on the floor stacking up blocks with his five-year-old brother. Wait, that was yesterday!
What was I worried about? This is MY son I'm talking about here. My son who likes to line up all of our, I mean, his Star Trek Action Figures while watching a Star Trek marathon (original or Next Generation). Who likes to fart in the bathtub because it tickles his butt. (OK, seriously, what guy doesn't enjoy that?) Who thinks its cool to say "Cool" to everything. (And my parents thought that word was a passing fad. Here, over forty years after saying "cool" became popular and it's still cool. Of course, they said the word "gross" was a "teeny fad" too. They didn't know anything!)
My son is a boy who thinks it's funny to act weird (much to My Wife's dismay). Who has taught his five-year-old brother the classic two man routine of "Is too, Is snot" (much to My Wife's dismay). Who swears his teeth get just as clean brushing them with water for 10 seconds as they do brushing them with toothpaste for two minutes (much to My Wife's dismay. In fact, most of what he does is to My Wife's dismay.).
And, of course, there are the daily things - begging to stay up "just a little bit longer" at night and begging to sleep "just a little bit longer" in the morning; frantically needing a cookie to get rid of the 'yucky' tasting allergy medicine; and saying "OK, hold on" EVERYTIME MY Wife and I tell him to do something. And, My Son has the bizarre ability to brush his teeth and wash his face in the morning and still have food and/or dried drool around his mouth. It is mind boggling! My five-year-old never has food on his face. My Son, on the brink of manhood, can't seem to eat anything without leaving a helping of it around his mouth.
My Wife is always shaking her head at the three of us guys and wearily mumbling "Boys", summing up all the trials and tribulations in that one word.
So, I guess I don't have to worry about the terrible teen years just yet. Which is OK by me.
Be a kid for as long as you can because growing up and having to worry about paying bills everyday really sucks. And, I can't really imagine My son changing that drastically. I think he will always be a bit goofy. After all... he's My son.