My oldest son, Andy turns seventeen today. For some reason that sounds so much older than sixteen. When I think of sixteen, I think of "sweet sixteen" and "sixteen candles". When I think of seventeen I think of graduations and army recruiters. Lucky for me, Andy's girlfriend made him swear he wouldn't join the army. He's also so busy with Police Explorers and Improv theater that I don't think he has time to think about joining the army.
Being a junior this year, he's taking on a lot more responsibility and he seems like he's matured a lot over the last few months. Part of that is he's been forced to take on more responsibility since I started working and going back to school. The other part is that he is getting better at letting things go and becoming more proactive and much less reactive. Of all the great qualities Andy possesses his ability to empathize with people is one of his greatest. This caring quality has been apparent since he was a little kid. He never cared about being everyones friend. He just wanted to be friends with the kid that seemed to be left out. He even felt terrible for punching Joey, his neighborhood friend/bully after Joey threatened to steal his bike. Luckily Joey's mom grew up in North St. Paul and let us know they were glad Andy punched him because Joey had it coming.
I think one of the reasons Andy is good at empathizing is that he feels things so deeply. Something he said the other day really surprised me about the amount of insight he is gaining. I don't remember what happened that made him think this but he said, "it must be hard to be a parent when your child is hurting." I totally agreed with him and when I thought about that comment later in the day I realized that is only half of the story. Nothing hurts worse than seeing your child in pain, but nothing is better than watching your child overcome and succeed. We are so proud you, Andy!
My oldest son, Andy turns seventeen today. For some reason that sounds so much older than sixteen. When I think of sixteen, I think of "sweet sixteen" and "sixteen candles". When I think of seventeen I think of graduations and army recruiters. Lucky for me, Andy's girlfriend made him swear he wouldn't join the army. He's also so busy with Police Explorers and Improv theater that I don't think he has time to think about joining the army. 
Being a junior this year, he's taking on a lot more responsibility and he seems like he's matured a lot over the last few months. Part of that is he's been forced to take on more responsibility since I started working and going back to school. The other part is that he is getting better at letting things go and becoming more proactive and much less reactive. Of all the great qualities Andy possesses his ability to empathize with people is one of his greatest. This caring quality has been apparent since he was a little kid. He never cared about being everyones friend. He just wanted to be friends with the kid that seemed to be left out. He even felt terrible for punching Joey, his neighborhood friend/bully after Joey threatened to steal his bike. Luckily Joey's mom grew up in North St. Paul and let us know they were glad Andy punched him because Joey had it coming. 
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