Dallin B

Dang, I've had a few tiny things that I'm like "How am I going to remember all these details that I absolutely don't want to forget?!!" They're insignificant, but they're of my boy. 1)my B man brings a Sparkling Ice to school. Everyday. Like it's a necessity. And I can't help but support it because I totally recognize what this dumb bottle of juice represents to him- freedom, maturation, something bigger than he was a year ago. I don't know exactly why but it melts me. 2) Since B started school he's made a new friend, Helen. I'm trying to think when the first time I heard about her was? I remember hearing her name, and then I remember I would see B walking with her every now and then on my weekly car pool run. I also remember B coming home one day saying that Helen's dad had a stroke (or some medical misfortune). I asked him if he wanted to make cookies to bring to her and he did. So we (ahem...ME) made cookies and he brought them to her at school with a little sticky note saying he hoped her dad got better. We were at a volleyball game a couple days later and she was there (apparently her mom is the vball coach) and looking for me nonetheless. She wanted to make sure and thank me for the cookies. Off and on, I've heard a little more and asked him if he likes her etc etc. Digging for specks of info without prying. There's also been talk about Dallin's friends' girlfriends. ???? Yes, we are in 6th grade and the male/female spark has been lit. Anyway, yesterday B came up to me and was all, "Mom, can I ask Helen out just to make everyone leave me alone?" Or something like that. Main points being, 1)he wanted to ask Helen out and 2)he was asking me permission to do it.  If we're being honest, add a million exclamation points right here. My boy asked me permission for something personal which just shows a level of trust and teamwork has been achieved between us. We had a small conversation about a couple of things (why he was really wanting to do this, ie: do you really like her, what each of us thought girl/boy relationships should look like at this point and down the road (thankfully we were on the same page)) and then I said I thought that was fine. I'll be honest, I played it cool on the outside but something funny was happening on my inside! My B's getting older and it makes my heart kind of want to do a slow small burst. Probably just with pride because man, he's a good kid, but it's a different feeling and all my heart knows to associate it with is a little sadness or hurt or something. But really it's just a tender feeling.
So there's all that.