In my most recent post, I promised something more upbeat next time around. As I sit down to write this I am looking out the window at a nearly perfect day with a blue sky and bright sunshine, so it certainly seems like I ought to be able to keep it cheery!

The thing that I’ve been most excited about lately is that my son, who is 15 years old and a Freshman in high school, has his first girlfriend. Friends have asked me if I like the young lady. It’s a little soon to say, really. I have only met her once, and that was before they became an item. I understand that she has had a pretty challenging life, with several stints in foster care, some abuse issues, a variety of different schools, etc. So on one level, she isn’t the girl I would have chosen for his first relationship. I just figure any kid who has been through all that stuff will have some issues, and in the best of all possible worlds I’d like him to have had a relationship without those challenges.

On the other hand, I am proud as can be of him because those things haven’t deterred him. I don’t think he likes her either because of her issues or in spite of them – I think he just likes her and accepts her exactly how she is. And he definitely DOES like her. It’s fun, as a mother, to see his face light up when he talks about her.

They haven’t had much opportunity to spend time together away from school yet. They just decided to “be girlfriend and boyfriend” a week ago, and kids’ lives are so structured and full that there hasn’t been any time for them other than telephone conversations since. But his spring break is about to begin, and I anticipate I will see more of her then.

On a completely different note, my mother-in-law returns from six weeks in Phoenix tonight. She has been staying with Bob’s brother Ric and attending the Cleveland Indians spring training games. We are all thrilled that she is finally getting to have some of those retirement experiences we all dream of. When she retired Bob’s dad was in bad health and she nursed him at home far longer than she should. Then when she finally moved him to a nursing home, she was there almost all the time. After he passed away it took another good year, I’d say, to get basic stuff caught up around the house and things cleaned out and to just get to the point where she finally feels like her time is her own. So at 80 years old, after a lifetime as an Indians fan, she finally got to go out to sunny Phoenix and be a bleacher bum for a while.

After six weeks on the road I had assumed that she would want to get right home and pick up the pieces of her life. I assumed wrong. Bob’s nice Paige turns 7 tomorrow, and Mom Beasley is sticking around Columbus through the weekend to celebrate Paige’s birthday. I don’t really know what all the plans are, but it looks like it is going to be a very Beasley weekend for me!