October 25, 2009 | 2:25 pm

Growing Pains

Posted by Ilana Angel

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Last night started off normal enough with my son and I having dinner and talking about our plans for the evening.  My son was going to a birthday party for one of his buddies so I would drop him off and head out to a work thing then have dinner with friends and pick him up at 11.

Important to note that I’m not a fan of the home where the party was and I did not want him to go at all because I worry things can get out of control when there is such lax supervision but he is almost 14 and should not miss out on stuff because of me so I put my concerns aside and let him go. 

When I dropped him off I told him to text me a couple of times so I know he is okay and I realize that may be over protective but he is my only child and if he checks in I feel better and he does it even though he thinks it’s lame because he knows it makes me happy and by makes me happy of course I mean that he understands that if I don’t hear from him I will drive over there and he will be mortified.

He called at 10:15 to see if he could sleep over at the party and when I told him no there was a flash moment of him thinking I was the meanest mother ever but it passed and I let him know I’d be there at 11.  He called back just before 11 and let me know one of his friends moms was going to bring him home so I did not need to schlep over.  Score.  He’s coming home and all is well.

Five minutes later he walks in the front door and he is covered in blood.  I of course flip out only to have him explain that it is fake and from some Halloween thing they were doing which is annoying to me but simply the funniest thing in the world to my son which is even more annoying to me.

He then tells me that the police came to shut down the party which made sense because I was wondering why he agreed to come home without a fight or begging.  Turns out the birthday boy had invited about 20 kids and double turned up and the neighbors called in the cops.  His first police shut down party and he’s not quite 14.  It’s the beginning of the end.

I can remember the day he was born, the first time he told me he loved me, the time he ran away from home when I would not make macaroni and cheese for breakfast, the first time he asked me to dance, the first time his heart was broken and now he is a young man who was at a party where the police were called in.  How did time go by so fast?

It’s an odd day when you realize your baby is growing up.  It does not matter how hard you prepare it’s always going to be hard.  I can see my future filled with nights at home waiting for the front door to open.  It’s exciting to watch him become a man and scary to watch my baby growing up.  I can only trust that I have raised a decent human being and that it will all be okay if I keep the faith.