College Bound Kids

I was talking to, or talking at - I'm not sure, my 17 year old son, Zach, yesterday. I called to talk with him about computers, and his greeting to me was, "Mom, if you're going to ask me about finding housing at school, I'll do it tomorrow, so don't even start." Okay, scratch that nag off my list. This was promptly followed up by my feigned surprise at his expecting my nag, I wasn't even going to mention it! I knew you'd take care of it. That lie was like a lump of coal as it settled in my throat! The truth of it is, Zach has not done much to find housing, and I have spent countless hours trying to do it for him.

While I'm chatting about computers my oldest, Noah, calls in and I put Zach on hold. Noah asks me about Zach's house hunting progress, and when I explain that Zach has just grunted to me about it he says, "What happened to that boy since I saw him? Did he fall off a truck? It's not your responsibility, Mom, it's his. Don't do it for him!"

WHAT??!!?!?! Didn't I just spend 2 weeks finding Noah a place to live in CO? Um...YES! So when did this boy grow up? He proceeded to carry out a diatribe about being more autonomous this year, earning his own money for anything he needs (uh huh), and his complete lack of understanding of his younger brother's inability to get his butt in gear. Okay - did someone give him a ruffi that made him forget the past two years he spent at college not taking care of things until the last minute? How did he grow up in the last 36 hours, and why?

I wrapped up the call with him, and jumped back on with Zach, who I proceeded to tell that he had to find housing or live with me or his grandmother his first year of college (if that doesn't motivate him, nothing will). He grunted, I told him I loved him, and then Noah called in on Zach's cell phone.

...20 minutes later Zach called to ask how much I paid Noah to talk to him about school. God I love my boys! I don't care how or why Noah grew up, but the boy is pulling a 4.0 in his second year with just finals to go and lecturing his brother about responsibility. The stars are aligned and I'll take it any way I can!