Well, now...remember that handbasket...it seems to be gaining momentum on it's downward slide. Nothing I can do but hang on for the ride, it seems.

You know, I've learned something recently. (Not that it helps me to know this, but I've always heard that knowledge is power.) I've learned in parenting that the teens are the terrible twos on steroids and PCP. At the same time. I'm told that boys are easier than girls, too. I don't have any girls, so I can't disagree with a voice of experience. But, to those who will tell me girls are easier, I say, 'you haven't met my boys'.

Some other things I've learned:

Mothers and teenage children having hormonal fluctuations at the same time is a cruel joke of nature, and a recipe for disaster. Don't be fooled into thinking boys don't have those fluctuations; they do, it's just more on a constant, rather than monthly, basis.

Once teen years hit, they knock any common sense out of what was once a relatively sensible young man. I've seen it happen. You can see that fearsome fickle hand of fate pat the boy on his back on the day he turns thirteen. This is the day that Hell begins.

Hell is not a place (except for that place in Michigan), it's a phase.

I think when they put the eyes in the back of my head, they removed some patience. I just haven't been the same since then. I guess the going consensus is that we mothers need the eyes in the back of the head more than we need the patience to deal with what we see, 'cause whatever that patience threshold is, the little shnits are going to cross it anyway.

I have also come to the conclusion that childbearing happens mostly to the young because they are too naive (some would say stupid) to know better.