A few months ago, Brady got a piece of mail telling him he'd been nominated for Boys' State.
At this point, I probably wasn't the best mother. I overlooked my son's concerns and desires and pressured him into going.
I went to Girls State (24 years ago!) and although it sounds corny, it really was a week that changed my life. I learned about leadership, and achieving dreams, and I learned about more mundane things like living in dorms and eating in cafeterias. All important things to be learning when you're going to college in a year.
So I ignored Brady's feelings and told him he was going. It was easy not to think about it... until last week. We had to think about it. Pack. Prepare him for a week on his own.
If you know my boy, you know he's unique. Social settings are a challenge for him. He doesn't like anything new or unknown. He's quirky, and oh so funny. I love him to death. And by Sunday at lunch, we were both half sick thinking about the week ahead.
We ate our lunch (actually Brady didn't... he was too stressed) and then checked Brady in for the week. Dan and the girls got his luggage and we rode up to the 5th floor in a large dorm at Kansas State University. And then we left him there.

I couldn't sleep Sunday night worrying about my boy. I'd left him alone in the big city, with no one he knew. What was I thinking?
I texted him but went to sleep without a response. What if he'd lost his cell phone? What if they took it away from him?
And then I got a response. The jist of it was that Sunday had been the worst day of his life. Ever.
Took everything I had to keep from driving up to get him and bring him home. Well, everything I had plus the fact that I had to teach summer school and Monday was our first day.
I went to work and then came home and frantically checked social media. Thank heavens, Boys State of Kansas is on Twitter. I had tweets sent to my phone. Whenever they'd post a picture, I scour it for some glimpse of my boy.
And then two things happened Monday. First, this picture...
It was captioned "playing Ultimate Frisbee." My boy does like the Frisbee. And look... there he is, alive, well and in the middle of a group. An organized group!
Next he texted me during his dinner. Told me he'd been elected a county commissioner. That's a good thing. He has a job, he'd been elected to it (rather than assigned it) and he'll be kept busy. So, glutton for punishment that I am, I asked if he was having fun yet.
No.
I told him to please try.
And he said, "I don't have fun. I'm relaxed."
That's about as much of a ringing endorsement you can get from my boy. He does have a different idea of fun than your normal teenager. I love him for it.
And I'll try to quit stalking him on Twitter and the Boys State website.
What in the world am I going to do when my boy goes to college?
More on this story next week...