My adopted stepson came home quite excited from school today. As I have mentioned before, he is taking AFJROTC in school this year, and today just days before marching in the town parade, he received a promotion! No longer the last rung on the ladder, but a step up to Airman, complete with pins for his uniform has given him quite the boost of confidence and a wide smile to boot!

While this time around just about the entire class was promoted, it doesn't matter to him one bit, it was just the boost that he needed in order to feel special, and feel special he certainly does. I stooped off at the local connivence store after picking up his little brother from school, and picked up a few special treats for each of them so that we could celebrate his new rank. He was quite concerned with his uniform, wanting to know almost immediately upon entering the house if I had yet brought it up to the Dry Cleaners, and was relieved to hear that I had, indeed, brought it up to the cleaners first thing in the morning, after dropping his little brother off at school, and the woman behind the counter assured me that it would be ready to go by Friday.

His interest in the military is increasing, and while I am happy that he has found something that motivates him and is teaching him how to finally take pride in not only himself, but the work that he produces, my fears as a mother keep me from getting too excited about his possible military career. The thought of him going off to some foreign land to fight, although honorable, scares the snot out of me. I do not want to see him hurt, I do not want him to witness the destruction that comes along with war, and do not wish to have his heart, which I have worked so hard to open up these past few years, hardened by seeing and being a part of such atrocities.

Luckily for both of us, class rings are also a hot topic in school right now, even though his is only a sophomore, so we both spent the better part of the afternoon huddled together over pictures of rings, both in print and online, designing his perfect class ring. He decided on not his birthstone, but mine which I found extremely touching. I am pretty sure that he chose it because he just likes that color better than his own birthstone more than anything else, but hey, I can believe whatever I want right, and I am going to go with the heartwarming he loves his mommy and wants her birthstone in his ring theory, it works well for me!

It was wonderful to be able to sit together for the afternoon hanging out and designing his perfect ring. It was relaxing and fun all at the same time and I am glad that we had the chance to just hang out together. As he is getting older now it is harder to find things to do together that is not deemed as 'lame' by his superior teenage intellect. Of course sitting down to design a piece of jewelry that starts at several hundred dollars and goes up from there would hold the attention of just about any teenager I know, so if you are at your wits end when it comes to what you can do to get your teen to sit down and hang out with you for a while, you could always try designing them a class ring, hey it worked for me!