The Fight

Present

Every morning is the same thing.

I wake my 16 and 13 year old up at 7am for school.

I don't want to do this.  I, myself, would rather stay curled up in bed... No, I would even forfeit that and launch head on into a crazy day that I've had not much sleep for, at a neck-bracing pace if only I wasn't forced to daily participate in

 "The Fight"

Josiah hates school.  I could thesaurus that word and come up with several colorful, hostile terms to try to create for you his emotion but HATE covers it (and Josiah would not think describing school at any length would be at all worth it!).

Really, the kid does not like school.  It's a great school, good teachers, easy classes, lovely girls but all of these give little balm to my son who would prefer to never think and stay within his 4 walls with his 4 people and draw quietly.

Hate.

He does.

So, this morning was quite the same and I'm writing this in part so that  a year from now I can look back and, Oh please, Lord-let it be so-Josiah may have changed his ways.  Grown out of this special phase he is in.  Please.

He met me bedside to see why it was that I was looking at the Commercial News instead of up and suffering as he was.  I got up.  Then he wanted to tell me how much he'd like to skip and how I should let him do that every once in a while.  I said no.  Then he explained that if he didn't skip that he would have to come home this afternoon, do a bunch of homework, go to guitar lessons and then spend the rest of the night at Bible study and so there wouldn't really be an "evening" for him to enjoy.

I told him that I was looking at having the have the same busy day along with cleaning the house, teaching at said Bible study and cooking for the family.

He then, with great compassion, said that that was another good reason to skip because...(and don't miss this)...there was so much to be done around the house and he could help me.

Oh brother.

I left him to complete his morning rituals and as I was trying to get the stinking cowlick on the back of his head to lay down, I looked at him with the last shred of patience that I had and said, "Well, you are very handsome."

His retort....

"I've never seen a handsome prisoner before they locked him up in jail."

Ok.

You win.

(BTW...he's clearly not aware of what's "trending" or he would have seen the infamous picture of Jeremy Meeks and realized that in one, tear shaped tattoo, his whole theory was blown!)