A First

It looks like there will be a lot of “firsts” this weekend, and we started them off with my Parker’s first lock-in. Against my better judgement. 

The Youth Center here on base does a lock in every year, and before now I have been disinclined to acquiesce to his request. (Means, no.) Both Michael and I were older before participating in lock-ins. I was in high school and, as you can imagine if you’ve ever been in high school, there were occasionally not-so-wholesome events that occurred. However, after several conversations with Parker, Michael, and friends who have had their children go before, we decided to let him go.

We walked him over as a family, dogs included, and waited anxiously (at least on my part) for the doors to open. I did manage to get a hug as children started streaming in, but once he joined his friends, and passed through the door, he never looked back. 

It was a long night for this mama, but when Michael went to pick him up at 6:15am he found a tired but happy young man waiting for him. He dumped his unused overnight bag on the couch before going upstairs to catch up on a night’s worth of sleep, and I’m left sipping coffee feeling like I overcame some monumental parenting hurdle.