My 15yo is an awesome kid. I know people who complain about their kids all the time but I have to say - I don't have any trouble with my 15yo. He's compliant, he's respectful, he's responsible, he's caring, confident, kind, and (for the most part) honest. I mean he's not perfect, but we've actually already survived his early rebellious years and there isn't a thread of that left in him. He's so cool!

So last weekend he walks up to me with a shot glass and a cup. He says, "Mom wanna take a shot of pickle juice with me?" He was so excited about it but I said, "No way that's disgusting!" Seeing the look of disappointment on his face I, of course, was overcome with Mom Guilt, and agreed anyway.

And this is where Mom Guilt fails mothers all the time. Our gut instinct says, "NOPE." But we say, "Oh....stop being such a nilly willy and have some fun."

I take the shot glass - shoot it back - and while doing so notice that my 15yo did NOT take his shot.

And then the most awful feeling comes over me and I realize... OMG.... that was NOT pickle juice. That was JALEPENO JUICE!!

15yo proceeds to hand me the cup he was holding - that I thought was pickle juice - and says, "Drink this - hurry!" It's milk. He came prepared!! He KNEW I would go along with this little game of his!

OH MY WORD!!! Teenage boys!!!!

And yes - we both laughed so hard about this that our sides hurt. It has to be one of the funniest things this kid has done in a long time.

It's been 3.5 yrs since I left my marriage and moved my children 3hrs north of their father. It's been hard on them, but they're all coming back around to themselves. It's nice to see my 15yo expressing the silly, fun, adventurous side again. For a long time, he's kind of hidden that away from the world.