Should I Be Proud?

I am already proud of my son. I can say, honestly, that Iike him as a person and that I have enjoyed being able to be with him, to raise and guide him, to show him what to look for in a woman and provide a decent example of what to avoid as well. I like to think that it does indeed take a village, but I still think he has also done more than his share of the work. Tonight, well, let's start with a short story...

So, I'd like to tell you a story. Once upon a time in a little city named Boise... (that is pronounced BOY-SEE not BoyZe)

My son comes home today and I have to share. He recently got a job at a Ginger friendly fast food restaurant that shall be named and he already has a long-term plan. He says that he already is shocked at the hours and the fact that he worked 9 hours on a school day, on top of the fact that he isn't 18 yet. It seems like they are doing something a little overboard. He left school at 3, got to work at 3:45. He got to work around 4 and then was working till 12. Not quite 9 hours but after school it was a long day. He handled it in stride but had plenty to bitch about.

Welcome to Adulthood, My Son

He has been working for a week and he is already feisty. "Franchises are horrible. The restaurant has one store about 2 miles from where we work. It is an older store." He goes on, through tired slurring about tiles that won't come clean, gunk that is a totl shit show to clean and the newly found horrors of the fast food industry. To me, it is like, "duh!" but to him it is still new. He plans on working at this store for 3 years and living through the abuse.

"Then," he says, "I can sue them for over issuing of hours, poor work environment and faulty hiring practices of our youth."

I laugh. I know he isn't all the way serious, but there is a little glow in my heart that he is aleady thinking of the long game.

There is something to be said about the work ethic of this generation. I am not saying that my son is the best, but I am pleased that he doesn't shy away from work and that he has ethics about the job that he does. This isn't just a gushing post about how awesome my kid is, really it is my own reflections as I get here... to this day. Who would have thought that one day I would be sitting out around 1 am just laughing and enjoying the company of my son after work as he gos through this experience. There are a lot experiences that you plamn for you anticipate. I never thought about this one but it felt like a milestone of some sort. It needed to be documented.

My future self is pleased.

Cross It Off the List

There used to be a website called 43 things. They closed the page a few years back and I was sad. It was a great concept. You got to choose life goals and work on them, sharing their progress and efforts. It was a community, kind of. Basically, it was a forum for the internally motivated.

I had things like: Live in a yurt, raise my son to be a good man, and learn to navigate by the stars. I am currently living in a yurt kind of, so cross that off. I also, after this conversation tonight, think that I may have got my son to be a good man. Truth is, he was always good, now he has just reached manhood. Each year I am prouder and prouder of him. He is strong willed, smart, and a little sardonic. He may be a bit narcissistic and a lost neo-agnostic on faith, but he will learn. Gotta have something to work on and hey... what's wrong with being confident?

Just ask Demi Lovato