Teenage Shoulders

As I was finishing up my laundry this morning, I had one of those mom moments.  I always put my younger son’s clothes away first (don’t ask me why, I just do) and then hang up my older son’s last.  As I reached for the hanger to hang up my older son’s gorgeous black linen shirt, that he looks so handsome in, I put the hanger into the collar of the shirt and the shirt fell off.   I picked up the shirt and tried it again and mumbled to myself, “stubborn shirt”.  Then it hit me.   It wasn’t the shirt, but the hanger.  The hanger was too small.  My big boy is now a young man with teenage shoulders and teenaged sized shirts that need an adult sized hanger.  I started to cry.  I looked at his other shirts in the closet and sure enough, three-fourths of them were only hanging on by one shoulder of the shirt, about to fall to the floor with the slightest touch. 

It’s a hard thing for a mother to see her children grow up.  We want them to be dependent upon us for everything and we want to be able to come to their rescue when they can’t tie their shoe or when they fall and get a scrape on their elbow.  Moms are the best at putting on band-aids.   But now, he can put on his own band-aid and he certainly can tie his own shoes and walk to Taco Bell with his friends after school, chat with buddies on the phone, use deodorant and ask to borrow his dad’s cologne.  He’s so…not little anymore.  How did that happen?  Where did the time go? 

His growing up is a good thing, I know, but it doesn’t mean it’s easy to have it happen right under your nose and not even realize it. I’m so proud of the young man he’s becoming though.  He shows such character and has his own convictions already that will set him on the right path.  He has made wonderful choices in his friends, shares his thoughts and concerns with us openly every day, works hard in school and is always conscientious about being a role model for others.  He has such a good head on his new teenage shoulders and makes me smile every day.  So, hug your children, nieces, nephews, or grandchildren today because they’ll soon be like you and me. And now, if you’ll excuse me for a bit, I have a closet of shirts that need to be hung on new hangers.