Another Teen

As of today, I only have one child who is not a teenager. Matthew has crossed the threshold into the teen world by turning 13. His birthday happened to fall on a Sunday that we have our extended family dinner, so he got to have his cake on his actual birthday. He requested the recently conquered coconut cake with a pineapple filling instead of coconut. Honestly, I think I liked it even better with the pineapple. It was a huge cake and we had three desserts to feed everyone so I assumed there would be a goodly amount of leftover cake. But I was completely wrong about that. It was a hit and we came home with only a couple of slices. Since Matthew is technically no longer a child, he asked if he could light his own candles. So he played with fire, blew out the candles, and then ate three huge slices of cake.

Matthew’s gift requests were modest and he was perfectly pleased with the trumpet stand and sheet music that he got. He has turned into a band kid, finding great joy in the music, and band has quickly become one of his happy places. His skill has improved so quickly that both the middle school band teacher and the high school band teacher (who teaches the before school jazz band) have commented on how quickly he has learned and how good he is. In fact, he is skipping the intermediate band and moving on to the advanced band as an 8th grader. Every time I hear his practice (which is often), I’m impressed by how much progress he is making. He has been playing for only a year and he’s pretty darn good.

Matthew most definitely adds some spice to our lives. As a baby, he taught Kevin and I about the power of music and a new way to eat. As a toddler, he taught us how to laugh again as the challenges of adult life had weighed us down. As a child he taught us patience as his stubbornness pushed us to develop new parenting skills. As a preteen he has taught us what courage is as he’s worked to bring new foods into his diet, foods that he’s been told all his life will kill him. As a teen, I expect he will have more to teach us. As parents, it is expected that we will teach our children, but I find that the learning goes both ways. I’m very grateful for Matthew and all that he contributes to our family. Being his mother has been very challenging at times, but I’m definitely a better person because he is in my life.