Teenagers~

I have this plaque hanging above my recliner.  I don't think I could find a truer saying if I looked for the rest of my days.

My children are now 20, 19, and 17 years old. And let me tell you, they know everything. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not being sarcastic (ok maybe I am a little).  I'm straight up telling you, there is no subject that you can bring up that one or all of them is not an expert on.



My 20-year-old has a difficult time saving money. And that is putting it lightly. He is living at home still and works around 30 hours a week. I'm ok with this. We're going to be going on what will probably be our last family vacation soon and he's waiting till after it to start applying for a position in law enforcement.  All of this is fine with me. What is not fine with me is that the child can not save money!  I swear if he gets a dime it burns a hole in his pocket.  He lives paycheck to paycheck and he has no bills! Really?  How hard is it to save money when the only thing you pay for is your cell phone?  Apparently very hard. There are just so many games he wants!  And of course he has no bills, so he can afford them. I can't seem to get him to understand that he needs to be saving towards the day that he will have bills.

My 19-year-old is a smart mouth. I think I made him this way with my smart-alec remarks over the years. But lord is it coming back to bite me in the butt now!   I'm a firm believer in the fact that there is a time and place for everything, including sarcasm. But he just hasn't learned that the time isn't all the time.  There are moments when his quips crack me up, and moments when I would gladly throttle him.

My 17-year-old is probably the worst at any given time. She is our only little girl, and she is fond of saying that she is my "mini-me". I'd like to deny it but if you spend more than 30 minutes with the two of us you'll think so too.  We often say the same thing at the same time. We will react the same way to any given situation. Which sounds all fun and cool, but seriously would you want to put up with yourself as a teenager? I feel so bad for my mama and daddy now. I know the Hell they went through, because I am living it daily. My little angel has informed me about 75 times over the course of the last two years that she will be moving out as soon as she graduates high school. Now how she is going to accomplish this with no money is still a puzzle. She's going to "save money".   She saves every bit as well as her 20-year-old brother.  And every time I try to give her advice she says "I know mama.  17-year-old here, I'm grown up now, you don't have to tell me"

That is so frustrating, let me tell you.  I've given up though, I would do better to have a conversation with a brick wall.  When she's 30 we'll discuss this again. Somewhere around there is where I figure I'll start being right again.  But you know what? Even though they drive me nuts, I wouldn't trade one minute with them for anything else in the world. The time is quickly approaching that they will be out on their own. In those moments when they are drivng me nuts I remind myself that it won't be like this for long.  One day my house will be empty and quiet and I will miss all the little arguments that we had. And all the laughs.  I'll probably have to go annoy them at their homes then. ;)