really??

No, really I couldn't come up with this on my own. In the last 3 months, Alex has lost a friend to suicide, been offered drugs and condoms, and now his other friend has run away from home. The drugs , not a big shocker, we live in small , shall we say .. fairly impoverished community where I know many parents of the boys classmates that are doing time for drugs. The condoms? a little surprised... I assured Alex he had no need for those for another 20 years. HA! I amuse even myself sometimes. His friends suicide? still seems surreal. Now his friend running away ... wow. I think anyone reading this would think we must live in a large city , and perhaps on the wrong side of the tracks. How wrong that assumption would be... incredibly, the town we live in has a population of about 700. One Stop light. No fast food joints. The post office still closes for lunch time. Yes, its very small town America, and an incredible reminder that these issues are REAL . As a parent, I can only hope on a wing and a prayer that somewhere in his 14 year old mind he is making good solid decisions. However I must add that I do monitor his cell phone, text messages, myspace page... well you get it . I'm not intrusive. Just informed. Teenagers are exhausting, I'm sure he is already two steps ahead of me on something....