Homecoming, 2010

My 15 year old son Will went to his first Homecoming Dance this past Saturday night.  He went with a beautiful young lady (I know her name, but I won't use it in this blog to protect her privacy from my thousands hundreds tens of readers.  She doesn't know me at all) and had a marvelous time.  But as I mentioned in my Saturday post (see Saturday Shout Outs!), when the day started things were a bit up in the air.  I thought today I would share a little of his adventure with you.

Will had been telling us all week that they were going out to eat before the dance.  He didn't know who they were going with, where they were going or how they would get there, but they were going. The dance was being held at a student center at the University of South Florida, which is nowhere near his school or our house. So plans needed to be made.  Friday night at the football game they didn't make any plans, so when he got up Saturday morning he began texting friends to see what was going on.  He soon discovered that his date could not go out to dinner- her parents would bring her directly to the dance. So that was that.  Marilyn would take Will to the dance, and it would not be complicated.

Then about 3 PM Will received a text from his date saying she had heard from his friend Chris that Will was going with some people to Kobe, a Japanese Steakhouse.  Will had no idea what she was talking about.  Chris has been known to over-promise and plan things that never happen, so Will called him to see what was actually going on.  Indeed, a group was going to Kobe, and Chris wanted Will to go.  For reasons we still don't really understand, suddenly Will's date was available for dinner.  So plans were finalized.  She would meet Will at Kobe.  They would eat, and then Marilyn (Super Mom!) would pick them up and take them to the dance.  I love it when a plan comes together. 

They went in to Kobe, where Chris and the rest of the group already had a table- with no room for anyone else.  Chris, who had started this entire fiasco, claimed he didn't know that Will and his date were coming.  Eventually it was all sorted out and they all got to sit together.  Marilyn picked them up, drove them to the dance, and then 4 hours later returned to pick them up.   Only Will's date was already gone- her parents had picked her up a few minutes earlier.  He said he had a blast and that they had danced all night (apparently not needing to fake a knee injury as I always did in such situations), along with many of their friends.  And that is the story of Will's first big date.

Why do I share all of this with you today, dear readers?  Simply to remind us all of something that I have never once forgotten, from the time I was a teenager through all of my years working with them.  A truth that never changes.  And here it is:  Being a teenager is HARD!  Even with 25 different ways (everything except actually talking to each other; that seems to be taboo!) to communicate, they can't.  Everything is life or death.  And you never know who you can count on. It may not seem like it is so tough now that we face serious adult issues, but when you are that age nothing seems more difficult.  Never forget that.  I'll see you tomorrow as we head back to Dungannon and Work Tour 2000.

Because of Jesus,