My oldest son is now officially a teenager!

[Mythsaje]

He turned 13 on the 10th.

I called my ex to set up visitation next week and she filled me in on his new teenage proclivities. First, he's changed his hair style. Short on the sides and back, bleached almost white, and longer on top. He dyed the top cherry red. The back is marked with the Cheysuli symbol for "Wind."

That last really startled me. He's SUCH a fantasy geek. I'm so proud.

He's starting to get into music. He likes Lynyrd Skynyrd (gets that from his mom, who's a real Southern rock freak), Queen, Three Days Grace, and Rob Zombie. I had to laugh. I'm really going to enjoy turning him onto all the stuff he hasn't heard yet, stuff his mom never really liked. I've got Screaming For Vengeance in the car. We'll be rocking out all the way back from Spokane. That's going to be SO cool!

[Droopy]

1. Turn him on to some 80s Metallica

They helped me get through high school.

[Mythsaje]

2. Oh, yeah. His mom only likes the black album...

I'll turn him onto Pastor of Muppets. (A friend used to call it that, and I can't help but think of it that way anymore).

[Der Blaue Engel]

3. My kid's turning 16 next week

I've really enjoyed the teen years so far. He's a really interesting person with cool taste in music. (He and his friends are really into Black Sabbath, AC/DC, and Metallica; it's kind of funny to see him getting into stuff I listened to in high school.) We also like the same kind of movies and Adult Swim cartoons, so we laugh ourselves sick over silly things like Will Farrell screaming, "I feel like I'm taking crazy pills! I invented the piano key necktie, I invented it! What have you done, Derek? You've done nothing! NOTHIIIING!" :D

Everyone warned me that teenaged boys were a nightmare, but mine's been great. I don't know if I've done something right or just got lucky. :)

[Mythsaje]

4. I work with a lot of teenagers and, in general, I'm impressed...

These are great kids.

And, yeah, they're re-discovering OUR music, which I think is SO cool. LOL

I have the feeling this year is when I'll really connect with Conal. He's a lot like me, mentally. Hard for him not to be, considering that it's the one thing his mom and I still have in common. We still think alike in a lot of ways. Emotionally we're very different, but mentally...we've always more or less been in synch.

She's done a good job raising him, though I still regret the circumstances that led her keeping both of the boys away from me for six years. She married a REAL putz and they threw out all the stops when the custody case came to trial.

She's never directly apologized, but I know she regrets it.

I'm trying to make up for it now.

[Der Blaue Engel]

5. I didn't have any contact with my son's father for almost ten years

(not that he made any attempt to contact me either), but finally decided to look for him a few years back. He and my son have so much in common, too, even though they'd never seen each other. They get along great now and share an interest and talent in music (both play bass) and video games, and their sense of humor.

It's been really good for Samson's self-esteem, I think, because he was always very down on himself before, and often depressed (kind of hard to escape it when you grow up with a severely depressed mom). I think we're all doing a lot better these days. (Now if I could only get some child support.)

[Mythsaje]

6. Ouch on the child support...

I hear you. Not only does she get the child support the state requires, but she always knows if she's in a bind she can call us up and we'll do what we can. We send extra for school shopping and a couple of months ago, when she badly needed to pay a bill and we didn't have the money ourselves, I went to my dad and he sent her the money.

Despite everything, she's still family too.

It's an odd situation and one that I don't think my wife is too comfortable with sometimes, but :shrug: there's not much I can do about that.

[hickman]

7. Mythsaje I envy you.

I remember when my son was 13. He shaved most of his beautiful blond hair off but kept a rat tail. It was the 90's and everything was about Guns and Roses. His sister(2 years older) always informed his musical choices. Then he found wrestling. Don't get me started. What a time. I laughed a lot.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

8. My mom and I listen to the same music.

Or rather, almost the same--I also listen to jazz, which my mom "doesn't get" (??). But in the car, we listen to the same radio stations (classic rock). Never arguments over music. ;)