Father and Son

Aren't they handsome?

(Peanut Butter on the left, Man-Child on the right.)

One comment I get a lot when I'm out with the boys is that I don't look old enough to have an eight year old child. Well, that's because I probably wasn't old enough when I had him. In fact, he is a prime example of why you shouldn't let your daughters go to their junior prom.
Just kidding...sort of.
At 16 I was really mature for my age and I knew everything about everything. (Isn't that how we all were then?) Premarital sex was not discussed in my house, unless it was to say that you don't do it...ever. But as I said before, I was really mature for my age and that meant that I didn't need to listen to my mother. My older boyfriend played the guitar and we were going to be together forever, so I really didn't put much effort into practicing safe sex.
When I took the pregnancy test that clearly showed I was "16 and pregnant", I wasn't all that surprised. When I became 17 and married, I felt like I was doing the right thing. This was what I wanted. I was ready for it. (Again, teenage ignorance.)
Man-child was my instant transformation. After having him I was no longer a teenager. I was a mom who would do anything to give my child a good life. Seeing my former husband through new eyes I realized that I had romanticized everything about him and our relationship.
Shock of shocks, my guitar playing husband turned out to be a royal douche who couldn't quite wrap his head around fidelity or the idea that I might want more in my life than what he could offer. So, he left. I was divorced at 19. Classy, I know.
I think the best thing my mom did for me was to make me take care of myself. I lived in and paid for my own apartment, worked full-time and took online classes after man-child was asleep. Money was tight and I was perpetually exhausted, but we were livin' on love.

I have known my handsome fox of a Spouse since middle school, but he was always the nice guy. The friend, the ride to and from school everyday for three years, the guy who taught me how to drive and would give in to almost every whim I had.
Looking back I don't know how I couldn't see what a catch he was. Why did I keep gravitating towards fixer-uppers when I had a cherry right in front of me?
Luckily, Spouse had been waiting in the wings for me and we got married in a fever.
I kept waiting for the bottom to drop out. He was too good to me, he was the best father I had ever known and he was smokin' hot to boot. It took months for me to realize that this was how a man should treat a woman. This was how it should be when you love someone.
My ex signed over his parental rights to Man-child a year later and Spouse legally adopted him. Soon after that we had Peanut Butter and our family was complete.
"It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us fathers and sons".
~Johann Schiller

My highest hope for my sons is that they will grow up to be just like their father.