Family | BulgingButtons

May 20, 2015
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Letting Go of the Wheel

My son is seventeen. Frankly it sort of hurts to say it out loud. It just seems like he shouldn’t be quite this close to adulthood.

In many ways he’s your average teen and in other ways he’s quite different. For one thing he’s quite bright. He just “gets” things that it takes other people a great deal of time and effort to understand. He learns complex material quickly and thoroughly, and he retains it. He also has a knack for figuring things out on his own. As a result he does fairly well in school. When he remembers to turn in assignments. Or makes sure that he completes all parts of them. Or uses the format the teacher prefers. These are the types of things that challenge him. The trivia of life. Continue reading →

May 13, 2015
by BulgingButtons 2 Comments

This Dog

I just wrote, and lost, a long post about this dog. I wrote about how she came into our lives and about how crazy she was. I wrote about how she saved us when we thought we were saving her. This dog has been my therapy, but even better, she has been my son’s friend. I love this dog, and I’m glad she’s ours.

May 10, 2015
by BulgingButtons 1 Comment

You Can’t Always Get What You Want

Okay, admit it, if you’re of a certain age you probably started singing “…but if you try sometimes, you get what you need.”

I’m right, aren’t I?

Well today I didn’t get something I needed, but I did get something I wanted. Funny thing about it is that I didn’t realize I wanted it until yesterday. Let me explain.

My actual real card from my sweet son.

I was married for a long time. At the beginning of that relationship, things were not good between me and the ex’s parents (father and step-mother, his birth mother was deceased). They took issue with certain things about me, like the fact that I didn’t share their son’s religion. Over time, though, they got to know me, and after a while, we developed a fairy decent relationship. The fact that I bore them a grandson helped too, I think.

Anyway, they retired and relocated to our state, which was especially nice for my son. When he was younger we would all get together at their house for swimming, barbeques, and various celebrations. It was fun, really fun. Just yesterday when I was out by our pool I told my sweetheart that I sort of missed those times. Of course he wasn’t part of them, and I wouldn’t turn back the hands of time for anything, but those afternoons by their pool were really wonderful. Alas, time and tide waits for no man, and that ship has sailed. Time to let it go.

Then today my son showed up for Mother’s Day. His father accompanied him to the door with a request. Could we please go over to his parents’ house to retrieve son’s math assignment that he left behind last night? I hadn’t seen or spoken with my former in-laws in almost two years. How strange.

My son called his grandparents and they told us to come on over, which we did. They had house-guests (whom my son had met the day before) but that didn’t make any difference. We were ushered into the backyard, poolside, for a visit. It was great. I felt like it had been weeks, not years, since we had visited.

I guess I need to spend a little more time identifying the things that I want in my life, so the universe knows which opportunities to throw my way. This time, at least, I got exactly what I wanted.