It’s not often, when you have children growing up, that they look to spend time with you alone.  It’s even less if you’re the mother and they’re the son.  But recently my older son, who is soon to be thirteen, has begun to take walks with me at night.  At first I was surprised.  Now I am pleased.

            For years when my children were little, I wanted to wrap them around me and keep them close.  I couldn’t imagine breathing if they weren’t breathing, and to even picture a time when they’d be off with their friends was so foreign and frightening that I wouldn’t even let my mind wrap itself around that thought. 

But of course, with all things, those days come too soon.  And strangely, when they do arrive you almost welcome them.  Or at least I did.  I looked forward to their independence and seeing them mature in to wonderful, responsible people.  Sure, I understand I have a ways to go, but isn’t hanging out with their friends one of the growth periods I will have to learn to accept? 

            As I began to see the importance of friendship and the losing of my time with my boys, I began to yearn for the days long past; of me being a stay at home mom who did everything with her children.  One who never once regretted a day that she was home with them, even when those very same days became long and monotonous.  As I looked back on those days with fond memories, I wondered how in the world I could recapture those moments that sped by quicker than I could ever have thought possible, and never found the answer.

            And then Alex asked to take walks with me.  What a joy!  Now, not only do I get the benefit of spending time with one of my sons, but I am more than fortunate to learn about him as a young man just verging on the act of maturity.  Now, I can hear about his day uninterrupted by the TV and friends calling.  I can hear about his view of his football team and his teachers.  Listen to him lament about what’s going right and wrong in his life.  I feel so blessed and lucky to know that now, when I should be pushed away by him he’s actually beginning to draw closer to me and I find that I welcome that even more than when he was a baby.

            I’m not sure if I will be qualified to help him navigate the waters of teen life and all the angst and pain that will come with it, but I do like to think that I am creating a bond with my son, one that will be a great memory for both of us later in life.   I don’t know how long this time will last.  Maybe just a few days or possibly a few weeks.  I’m not so naïve to think that his friends will lose their importance and I will gain.  And I wouldn’t want that anyway, because that would stifle my son’s growth.  But I will take any moment that he wants to give me, freely and willingly, and spend it with him joyfully.

            If it is possible to have a second chance at spending time with your kids, then I think I have found the way.  And oh what a joy and blessing it is!