The contrast between both of my teenage sons astounds me. I truly love them beyond comprehension or measure and am so proud of both of them for who they are as individuals. It is the good nature of our youngest that shamefully leads us to believe at times that he is…

“The Forgotten Son”.
My oldest son is and always has been, a high achiever. He is intelligent, talented, extroverted, confident, and popular. Everything seems to come so easy for him. His social, musical, academic, and athletic calendar have our heads spinning at times. He can be so strong-willed and a chronic debater, and can test the most patient person; my youngest son.
My youngest is the most ever forgiving, compassionate, and grateful teenager I’ve ever had the privilege to know. There is no entitlement on his agenda. He’s full of smiles and corny jokes and appears relatively content designing his own path in life. He appears to accept basking in the shadows of his brother’s limelight with a multitude of grace. For the most part, he goes with the flow, despite being essentially bullied or teased by big brother and peers at school from time to time. He is ready at a moments notice to advocate for anyone, including his big brother without regard to assessing his pint size stature and proclaim what is just on both sides of an issue in order to maintain peace.
He is his brother’s biggest advocate and defender and none to himself. He somehow brings out the inner child in me and emotionally hugs her daily. It is because of his good nature, we tend to take advantage of his goodwill and appear to forget to seek what his passions in life are. What HE wants of us, if anything.

He is the type of child, who will not bother to tell us he outgrew all his shoes by about three sizes (and the Worst Parent of the Year Award goes to…). When I ask him why he never bothered to say anything, he shrugs and responds, “I still liked my shoes”. Needless to say, we bought him a few pairs of new shoes and an ice cream shake to try and make up for it (but I’m still expecting the crappy parent award to arrive any day now).

He is the person I aspire to be. And it is under his own limelight I bask. Thank you buddy for being my kid.