Children

I guess I just did it all wrong. Somewhere I lost my manual on how to raise a child. Somewhere I must have messed up and flipped the whole thing upside down. My boys are now 23 and 18. The oldest is off with the US Navy, in Italy somewhere - I get occasional emails letting me know he is still alive and well. The youngest is off at college doing whatever college, freshman, boys do - I really don't hear from him unless he needs something.

So - last night Im on the internet because Navy boy had emailed about Oktoberfest and said to go to his facebook page and see pictures - which I promptly forwarded to everyone in the family(including his dad and step mom) so everyone could enjoy the update........only I see one of the lines on his page tells me: (MY son) has listed (step mom's name) as his mother.....hmm, I think....well thats nice to know. I actually found that I was very HURT by what was probably an innocent statement. Later, Im talking to college boy, who informs me that my calls to him are NOT helpful, in fact they are distracting so I told him, ok, you know my number, call me if you need me. Afterwards I thought - wow - what did I do? One doesn't claim me as his mom - despite 23 years to the contrary, the other tells me I am distracting him - all I can think is - wow, I must have done this parenting thing alll wrong.