I'm a proud mama

For those of you who don't know, I have a 17 year old teenage son who is only one year away from finishing high school. And if I have to describe him in few words. He is the sunshine of my life.

Yesterday afternoon, we went to an event organized by the Mayor's Office for the recognition of academic excellence of the school students in the municipality where we live. My son was invited for his academic performance on behalf of his school. Of course, I'm a proud mom.

All these months, that span more than a year since the pandemic began, my son has had to study from home. Here in Venezuela, there have been no activities in place in schools and universities since the start of the pandemic. Just online activities.

So the event that we attended yesterday turned out to be an activity almost "normal". Of course, everyone with masks, and despite the number of people, everyone tried to keep their distance. Although deep inside, everybody wanted to hug after so long time without seeing each other. There were a lot of people. And at some point, I was a little distressed to be among so many people. The sensation was quite strange. There was a woman in one of the rows who was spraying alcohol not only on her hands but on her arms, it seemed that she was spraying herself repellent. And I think that for the children and young people who were in the place it was also like a return to the past. They all wanted to be with their friends.

One of the things that I think about every day is how these years of semi-confinement are affecting the younger generations. But I'm veering off on a tangent since what I want to talk about is how proud I'm of my son.

Being a parent is an exciting but challenging journey. And as children grow, these challenges each time they get bigger. I'm a lucky mother because of the son I have. He is studious, responsible, kind, affectionate, but also with a lot of character. People use to say that he resembles me. And not only physically, but also in his character, they may be right.

I think nowadays, one of the biggest challenges we face as parents, it's how we manage to have a close and trustful relationship with our children as they grow without pretending to be their friends. We cannot erase the line of authority that we have as parents. But in my opinion, we can't be like some authoritarian parents, who over the years what they achieve is that their children move away and don't trust them. We need to strike a balance. So far, I think I've achieved it.

My son enjoys his time with me and me with him. And during the pandemic, spending most of our time at home, we have been together practically every day throughout the day.

When he was a toddler, in his first year of preschool, he made a drawing of me that I still have. The teacher asked him to say what he liked to do with his mom. And then the teacher wrote it to him in one corner of the draw.

The drawing was on our refrigerator door for a long time. And I still have it. Despite, as you can see, it's quite spoiled for having been exposed for a long time.

At that moment, what he said he liked to do with me the most was, going to the park, going to the movies the three of us, going to Expanzoo, a small contact zoo in Caracas. And that he loved me very much.

If today I made a small list of what we do together these days and I love to share with him, some of the things on my list would be,

• I love chatting with him.

• I love that he likes to cook, sometimes with me and sometimes alone. Although after in the kitchen, it seems that there has been a kind of storm.

• I love that he tells me about his dream of studying Biology and finding his way somewhere that may offer him better opportunities than here.

• I love that he is learning to drive and that I am the instructor, although sometimes he gives me some good scares.

• I love that he is living his first love, and although he obviously doesn't tell me the details. I like that he trusts enough to tell me who his girlfriend is and has introduced her to me.

• I love hearing him chat with his dad, whether it's about a movie, a current news story, or something else. And I love even when the two of them come together to make fun of me.

• I love that every time he shows me a Meme and I don't understand most of them, that makes him laugh at me. Maybe the Memes sense circuit is missing in my brain because many of them don't make sense to me, or I don't found them funny.

• I love that he is the first reader of all the articles I've published here.

I'm a proud mama. There isn't a doubt about that. He will always be my boy, no matter how old he is. And although right now, it causes me some anxiety to know that important changes are coming soon. His High School time is about to end, and time is flying by. I'm so glad to be on this journey that has undoubtedly been the best of my entire life.

Thank you, dear readers!

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All images are mine.