At last post, I was in a weird place. Thanks mom for the post, that's nice. Anyway, the removal was successful, and although I felt very attacked afterward (which I knew I was in for) the T.C. has had a much better vibe as of late. Everyone is positive, we've added some new clients who are really serious about changing their lives, and are great positive leaders. (As much as inmates can be). Things are looking good right now. Of course that will change, but it makes my job a whole lot easier when people actually look for answers instead of argue with them. 
Tomorrow is Mother's Day, and I'm asking myself "what kind of mother have I been?". As I look at my slothful child who wants to do computer art for a living, I have some regrets, but mostly triumphs. My child is going to be sixteen in a couple of weeks. That seems crazy to me. I thought it was just last week when he was staring at the sun claiming that it gave him "super powers". Your first reaction is to say, "That's called SUN SPOTS you stupid kid, you're probably going to go blind!". But you don't, you just laugh to yourself, and then panic when he jumps off the barbecue because he thought he could fly, and has to get three stitches in his head. It is sad to me that grown-ups lose that magical thinking at some point. Right now, my boy thinks he can go to any school he wants, he will rule the computer animation world, and his days will be full of intellectual conversations at the coffee shop by the Bay. (San Francisco Bay, to be exact). I hope this happens for him. I truly do. But if it doesn't, and he has to go through a few hardships before he finds a comfortable place in his life, well, that's good too.
Kids need struggles, they need more hardships. They should have to wear K-mart tennis shoes and be called names in grade school because of it. It makes you a better person. My kids never had that. They don't know what it is like to be poor, or the triumph of accomplishing something they had to work really hard at to get. We as a generation, are way too good to kids. We treat them like little prize possessions that can never be hurt, sad, disappointed, average, or Heaven forbid, "losers". We let them take tests over and over until they get an A. We don't even keep score any more at soccer games for fear that the losing team will feel "bad". What's up with that? Not everyone can be a winner, or the best, or the boss, or the President. And you know what? That's okay.
So if I have any regrets as a mother, my regret would be that I did my job WAY TOO WELL. Maybe it was that fact that we were raised by the "me" generation, maybe it's the government that has too many regulations on how we raise children, I don't know. But I will say this, for all of you who are going to be mothers, let your kids get dirty. Let them scrape up their knee, slap a band-aid on it, and call it good without running them to the doctor. When they get an "F" in school, don't call the teacher, tell them to do a better job next time, and they won't get "Fs". Keep score at soccer, make them work for the next latest thing, buy them a pair of shoes that don't cost more than twenty bucks. It builds character. And guess what, in 30 years we may have a President that has some integrity. Wow, that's a foreign concept, isn't it? I will leave you with a picture of my spoiled, coddled, naive, demanding and clueless kids. I love 'em. Maybe a little too much. HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!
