This is me in grade nine

When you ride your bike all summer and you are a quite grown up freshman who doesn't need his mother thankyouverymuch, you ride your bike to school.

Notice the rectangular phone shape in his pocket?  He used that to text me to come and pick him up after school.  That hill is steep and we all know it.

When you're the mother of the emancipated 9th grader, you follow him outside, under the guise of taking a picture, but mostly to make sure he really wears a helmet.

Sometimes this summer he "forgot."

We're back in the school saddle.  Back to "Do you have homework?"  Back to watching CNN 10 over breakfast.  It's familiar territory although Mark is something of a mystery.  Today he has cross training (which is a class he purposefully chose, didn't get into, convinced me to go to the school and get his schedule changed).  Here I thought PE classes were something to be endured, not sought out.  Last night at dinner, he said he was looking forward to cross training.  Who is this kid?!?

I'll have a chance to figure it out.  In a week, Mark will be the only kid around here.

I'm glad we like him so much.