My son has a girlfriend, his first, and I am pleased that he is now old and mature enough to enter the dating stage. I’m excited for him.  In a funny way, I’m re-living vicariously my long-forgotten feelings of first love and all the nervousness, anxiety, and “What am I going to do?” anxieties I felt at his age.  Nonetheless, I need to allow him to have his space, and keep my distance while still making sure that they’re acting appropriately.  But I don’t fully know how much to ask, observe, or try and find out.  Mostly, I think I need to let him discover for himself.

We’ll start with the back-story, a familiar but sweet teen romance and how “we” got to this stage.  I fully believe this is a stage that is nothing less than good, that I’m happy about, and that I didn’t personally experience till after high school.  Clearly, this is one of the reasons for the vicarious feelings.  I slightly envy his maturity and confidence in pursuing this relationship and it also makes me proud of how he’s handled things.