Ginormous Pastrami Burger

Alex and his friend, The Phantom, came home one night completely famished!  They decided to make one pound pastrami hamburgers. 

They smoked up the kitchen and made me sick when I saw the gross amounts of meat that were on their hamburgers!  But when I saw the looks on their faces, I had to smile. 

Pure teenage heaven!

Tetanus Scare and bonus Christmas Money

I had to take Alex to Redi Care today because we thought he had Tetanus. He stepped on a nail during Drama class at school two weeks ago while building thrones for the sets for his two upcoming plays; Much Ado About Nothing and Once Upon a Mattress. His jaw has been in mortal pain ever since. Of course, I only found out last night–after our regular doctor’s office was closed. But hey, we met our deductible, so now I look for any excuse to go to the doctor since it’s practically free, and that way I can feel better about those 12 lovely insurance payments I made throughout the year.

“Just in case” the doctor prescribed an anti inflammatory and an antibiotic. A tetanus shot was administered, and then we drove to the pharmacy at the grocery store where Alex recently got a job as a bagger. He grabbed a cart and started pushing it along, flexing his abs as he pushed. He told me that soon he’s going to have rock hard abs from pushing all of those carts through the snow and back into the store. I laughed. It won’t be much longer until he’s out on his own. Graduation is just around the corner. Life will be boring without Alex constantly doing thousands of projects and experiments. Although the messes annoy me, I will miss seeing him in creativity mode.

I don’t think I’ll miss seeing his room piled with junk knee high! I have to close his door every day so I don’t have to look at it. Most days it’s a battle I choose not to fight. Tomorrow I will be cleaning it and charging him $20 an hour. How do you think that will go? I could really use some last minute Christmas money :)

My Winning Angel

After he stayed up the entire night working on his presentation, I have to say how proud I am of Alex (and myself). After all, behind every great and amazing kid is one exhausted mother, right?

After coming home late from a girl's night, I took one look at the panic on Alex's face and decided that he needed his Mom to pull through for him.

I wondered through the long night if I was truly helping him, or if I was truly hurting him by helping him. There is a fine balance in there somewhere that every mother must weigh.

I realized at some point between burning the pointer finger on my right hand and my thumb on my left, that he is so much like me. I like to say that we "work better under pressure." That seems easier to swallow than "always waiting til the last minute."

The next day upon entering the school, I was greeted by an angel with the biggest grin on his face.

Alex won FIRST PLACE on ALL THREE categories that he entered at Drama Districts.
Yay, we get to do it all again for STATE.

Way to go, kid. You are one amazing Angel! (You too Mom)!

Maybe You Should Fly a Jet! Maybe You Should be a Vet!

Last night, I stood next to my tall son who was wearing a wife beater tank, white pants, and white dress shoes, as he worked on his "mouse trap" auto--spring angel wings prop to complete his Drama Districts costume. Drama Districts will be on Saturday. The wings were started on Wednesday after "the mom" ran around two different towns compiling supplies for him.

Tiny shards of wire and bits of foam core board cluttered the counter table and floor. He held the wings out and as he popped the trap, the wings snapped open. I marveled at the clever apparatus made out of wooden dowels, foam core board, a mouse trap (of course), various nuts and bolts, and lots of hot glue.

"You are so talented," I said. "You should be an engineer!" I wondered how a brain could even come up with such a contraption!

He looked at me with a half smile, then started listing off several careers that he's interested in; Fire fighter, actor, costume designer, blacksmith, Coroner, and Rock Star. His interests are varied.

The sing song way his voice named the careers made the words to Theo Le Sieg's (AKA Dr. Seuss') book, Do You Want to Fly a Jet, immediately come to mind.

I began quoting the book to him and we laughed. It was a frequent read from his childhood, and memories flashed through my mind of a brown--eyed boy with a damp blond bowl cut, smelling of baby shampoo, cuddling with me on the couch. . . .

This career talk is new and strange and a little frightening--at least for me. I am learning how difficult it must be for mother birds to push their babies out of their nests and let them fly. I want to grab my boy and put my arms around him and protect him and keep him safe and cozy. But if I do that, he'll never learn how to SOAR!

Tonight, when the windows reflect the dark night, Alex will once again be in my kitchen furiously working and creating and hot gluing and carefully and meticulously gluing feathers to his mouse trap wing contraptions.

And when he dons them, I will think . . . exercise those wings, flap hard and prepare because very soon you will be leaving my nest,

and what I wish most for you is to SOAR.

All Photos by Laura Walker Photographies