Neither Great Nor Horrible
It's been a long day and I'm tired. We made it to Florida but not without major fireworks along the way.
Just normal teenager stuff, I guess.
It was hard to have my sister in law come up and nail Ben's outrageous sense of privilege. I mean, she had only spent a couple hours with him. But she's right. It does ooze out of his pores.
Because so much of the family is down here right now, we're actually staying at a hotel. It's a little odd to be here on the beach instead of our usual space. I'm sitting on a balcony, though, and listening to the waves crash.
It's a nice change of pace.
I had a terrible moment with Ben this morning. It made me feel like I was no better than my mother in the parenting world. Maybe worse because so many people think so highly of my thoughtfulness.
I was not thoughtful.
The irony? My mother would have cut me slack, soothed me, and said I did the best I could. She was generally very kind about my parenting.
It's not about me, though. an easy place to slink to for comfort- I'm a bad person- instead of realizing it's a hard moment in Ben's life. He's struggling, anxious and afraid.
And he's still a boy in so many ways.
Except when he uses the "f" word with me.
He's a good boy. I'm a good parent. Neither of us are great. Neither horrible. Just average and trying our best to figure out the world.
Tomorrow, we will hit the beach. The Floridians we are visiting rarely like the beach in "winter" but luckily there are many other folks here, all from cold climates and dying for the sea breeze and sunshine.
It'll be okay.
I hope.
Just normal teenager stuff, I guess.
It was hard to have my sister in law come up and nail Ben's outrageous sense of privilege. I mean, she had only spent a couple hours with him. But she's right. It does ooze out of his pores.
Because so much of the family is down here right now, we're actually staying at a hotel. It's a little odd to be here on the beach instead of our usual space. I'm sitting on a balcony, though, and listening to the waves crash.
It's a nice change of pace.
I had a terrible moment with Ben this morning. It made me feel like I was no better than my mother in the parenting world. Maybe worse because so many people think so highly of my thoughtfulness.
I was not thoughtful.
The irony? My mother would have cut me slack, soothed me, and said I did the best I could. She was generally very kind about my parenting.
It's not about me, though. an easy place to slink to for comfort- I'm a bad person- instead of realizing it's a hard moment in Ben's life. He's struggling, anxious and afraid.
And he's still a boy in so many ways.
Except when he uses the "f" word with me.
He's a good boy. I'm a good parent. Neither of us are great. Neither horrible. Just average and trying our best to figure out the world.
Tomorrow, we will hit the beach. The Floridians we are visiting rarely like the beach in "winter" but luckily there are many other folks here, all from cold climates and dying for the sea breeze and sunshine.
It'll be okay.
I hope.
Labels: gay and lesbian families, lesbian mom, parenting, teenager
posted by Sara at 9:59 PM
1 Comments:
we had florida like weather this morning sunny and 60ish it was wonderful. Now the breezy is kicking up and the temp has dropped 25 degrees. enjoy your sun and beach hopefully Ben will chill so to speak and enjoy the time there.
Once again thanks for the cookies.
ttfn
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