Drained teenager, sucked dry of anything comprehensible.

Bennyboy had his first year 12 level 2 NCEA exam yesterday, OK New Zealand exam system isnt particularly good in my eyes but who am I to judge. My Aunty picked him up after the exam and took him back to her place and fed him 4 pieces of toast and a tin of baked beans. He hoovered these down and promptly lapsed into exhausted slumber on her couch.

I picked him up at 5.30 and he slept in the car for the 25 min drive home. He then walked in the front door and collapsed onto the couch in the lounge and went back to sleep, in fact I am not sure he was actually awake when he walked from the car inside to start with. I took the furchildren (dogs) for a run on the beach. When I got back the teenager was still sprawled the length of the couch sleeping. I cooked steak potatoes and veges for dinner, he woke long enough to eat most of this meal but a few vege. I asked him would he like me to put them into an omelette for him with some cheese, a chessy vege omelette. This I did and he preceeded to hoover this down as well. It seems this refueled him for a while because I was parked on the back deck outside watching the sun set with a chilled glass of vino in hand talking to New Guy on the phone when teenager came out and plonked down beside me to engage in conversation. We talked, we laughed, we joked around. He told me about his exam, and the Physics exam he has today. He told me what Universities he wants to apply to next year. Selfishly I hope he gets accepted for his conjoint Science, Enginneering programme at Auckland Uni simply because that means he will live at home a little longer.

We have had our ups and downs in the last 12 months the teenager and I, I have found it very hard to be his mother at times and at times I have wished him living elsewhere, but last night, last night I told him how proud I was of him and that I loved the man he was becoming and that I love that we can sit and talk in the evenings like we do. He is growing up so fast and he wont be living with me for too many more years but man I am loving where we are right now.

There's something inexplicably poignant in that moment you are having a conversation with your child and you realise that you are no longer having a parent/ child conversation but a conversation with another adult.

The Picture...oh thats Ben sleeping on dining room chairs as per previous post.