Christopher is my 14 year old nephew. He was born when I was in the 5th grade and I remember the very night it happened, October 30. He was always my most favorite tiny person, he was so small and looked up to me so very much. We were best friends every summer although we were nearly ripping each others hair out half the time. I remember so much of the cute things he used to say, the way he danced, his beautiful, genuine smile. It was always the highlight of my entire year, getting to visit him and my sister, Tina.
So it comes as a bit of a shock now, that I am an adult and he is a teenager, so much ahead of him. This time in his life is so very scary to me now that I am a mom and that I survived being a more wild teenager than any of my family knows... It chills me to the bone to think that sometime soon at a party he is going to be offered a joint or a shot of vodka. Experimenting is the norm I suppose, But I know first hand that "experimenting" can turn into regular everyday behavior, real quick too. All I can say is I am thankful Tina is such a good mom, because I know she will always keep an eye on him. If there was one thing I could say to my teenage self and to my teenage nephew it would be to just slow down! You have plenty of time to do stupid things when you are an adult so for now just take care of yourself and think of the person you want to be at 25. Its hard when all your friends are doing it but honestly, what you do now in your teens makes such an impact on your future. Why is that so easy to see in hindsight but when I was 15, all I wanted to do was be crazy and destructive and just not really give a fuck about the next 10 years. The things I let myself get involved with at 16-17-18 years old were just insane and I am still recovering from it and I probably always will. Not going into details but I am so lucky to be free of that life for 5 years now.
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