The Boy is about to turn twelve in the next few months. This past week, we were looking up pictures for a project for his french class. He has to make a family tree, and needs pictures of aunts and cousins and grandparents.
As we were looking through the pictures, I saw many of the Boy and Claire Adele went they were half the age they are now. I have pictures of them at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Science building fantastic creations with Kiva blocks. The Boy got his Junior Ranger badge at Mt. Rainier, and wore a headdress he made at camp. There are pictures of him digging the dirt and showing off her Lego creations. Claire Adele was Cinderella in one of her camp plays, and loved wearing dress up clothes. Her pictures tend to show a wide range of emotion: thoughtful, pensive, concentration, in addition to joy. The Boy, on the other hand, was happy and nothing but happy.
In all of these pictures, the kids are generally in a positive mood. That makes sense, given these pictures were taken on vacation, holidays, trips to the park, and birthday parties. I did not photograph tantrums or other emotional disasters. There are no pictures of the Boy recovering from his tonsillectomy, or Claire Adele getting her wisdom teeth out.
Nevertheless, I wonder where the Boy's happiness went. He used to be so joyful and upbeat. Now that he is almost twelve, he has so many more moments of seriousness and sullenness. He is moody.
I am sure this is just a pre-adolescent hormonal situation, but I didn't expect it. I had a younger brother, and I don't recall him being a moody teenager. Likely, I was too busy in my own funk to pay attention to his funk, but still. Teenage girls are famous for their moodiness, but the angst and sorrow boys feel at times but be just as real.
Will his happiness come back? Will the bouncy Boy return? I talked to a woman at a meeting last night, and she said she saw is return in her 24 years old son. Another friend said I should be glad I have Fox. Dogs don't have sullen teenage years.
This blog is about the little and big thoughts that pop into my head. I once read that when Flannery O'Connor walked into a bookstore, she would want to edit her published works with a red pen. In the digital world, we have the luxury of tweaking things up after we've hit the publish button. I can be a perfectionist/procrastinator, where waiting for the ideal means little gets done. Here I will share what is not--and likely will never be--perfect.
No comments:
Post a Comment