I have 2 boys, ages 21 and 19, going on 35 and 12. I am not trying to be funny. Here’s a quick look at how they operate.
The 21 year old went to college his Freshman year, got a job, chose not to go back to school the next year but has been on his own since. He rarely comes to see us and I have to nag him to send me a text every now and again. He always says he’s just so “busy” but really, no one is that busy. Are they? I try to remember what 21 looked like but I’m more than positive that my world at 21 included my mother on a regular basis. For me, regular meant everyday. For the 21 year old, whose name is Walker by the way, regular means once every 2 or 3 weeks.
It is not my idea but as I said, he doesn’t respond on a regular basis. Although, he did “chat” with me last week. I learned that he is job-hunting because even though he works as much or more than ever, he makes enough to pay rent, feed himself and the dog but he doesn’t have enough money for anything extra. He has already, at age 21, made the decision that he needs some kind of education. Apparently that didn’t take near as long as I thought it would. So, of course, I want to help him get ahead so he can go to IT School (his choice). I’ll let you know how that goes.
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The 19-year-old just graduated from college this past May. He was suppose to play collegiate baseball but he really did get a bad deal from the new coaching staff at that college. We didn’t find ut until about three weeks before the fall term started at most places. Although he went on a few visits and he had some offers from a few places, nothing seemed to be a big deal. And that takes us back to going to college without playing baseball. But, none of his paperwork was done at any other schools, so here we sit.
He isn’t as laid back as Walker and gets agitated when things don’t follow the plan he has made. And this is a major deal for him in terms of “things going his way.” So, he’s been on the job hunt and finally found a part-time job is still looking for something else. We (my husband, the boys dad) gave him an ultimate that he had to get a job and quick because we were paying his truck payment this month but next month, he is on his own. That wasn’t near as hard as the ultimatum that I issued regarding his attitude and finding somewhere else to exercise that attitude. That was about a month ago and things have been better lately, we’ll see how long the three of us can live together.
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You may have noticed I said “the three of us”? Walker lives on his own in a college town where he originally started to school. As it is, it’s me, Jace (the 19 year old) and my wonderful husband of 22 years. We will see how this goes as we document Growing Old with Jerri Ann.
Thanks for reading, Jerri Ann
