Some Balance...

One of the kids I work closest with is a teenage mom.  I met her first a couple years ago when she was high... and shortly after she shared with me she was pregnant... She is a kid whose family support has been nonexistent... she had already been parenting... parenting her younger sibling and her mom who is an addict... Since that time she has had her baby  and is a great mom... not a great teenage mom, a great mom.  And the baby's father, very much involved and being a great dad. (They have been living together with his parents.)  This week this girl has had a hard week... the relationship between her and the baby's dad has ended, but they have maturely agreed to continue to coparent. Instead of acting like teenagers, they have both been able to say that the other is a good parent, but that, for now, being boyfriend and girlfriend is not good, because they are not treating each other the way they should.  We were talking about it the other day and she told me that a parent of one of her friends continues to make comments about how irresponsible she is to be a teen mom.  I shook my head and said that this parent should be judging her for the kind of parent she is not because she is a teenage mom... the girl smiled and said that I said something similar to her when she told me she was pregnant.  I said, Oh yeah?.. She proceeded to relay the story.. she told me her news and I asked her how she felt about it.  She told me she was scared but that she was keeping the baby.  She said I didn't hesitate and said to her, Ok then, it's your job to take care of you and the baby and it's my job to support you as you do.  She smiled and said how much that meant to her.
Tonight, after standing outside for a cold football game, which lasted forever and we lost... I got a text from her.  A picture of her and her son dressed up in costumes, with a note that said Happy Halloween.  I responded and thanked her for sending it to me, for thinking of me... and she wrote back and said:  ALWAYS! 

It's those moments that make me know I am where I am supposed to be... and I do help kids...

It helps with the balance...