Okay, by now it should be fairly obvious that I am going for a month of incorporating the word "table" into my blog titles as often as possible. Bear with me...the month is bound to end sooner rather than later and I will move onto something else. Sometimes the kitchen table is witness to those aspects of life which aren't quite so enjoyable in the memory cells...lessons of being held accountable for actions taken. Yesterday was the first day, after a two week suspension (and subsequent grounding and loss of virtually all privileges and electronics while under "house arrest" by the parental units for those two weeks), that Alex was allowed to ride the school bus again, punishment resulting from an infraction for a less than desirable choice he made regarding proper bus behavior. Alex's version: "Well, I was sorta looking at this kid's backpack on the bus and it was kinda near the window, sorta maybe a little too close, and it kinda sorta fell out of the window accidentally." The bus driver's version, "Alex and a friend were playing keep away with another friend's backpack and Alex hurled the backpack out of the window as the bus was moving down the road." Hmmm...probably don't need to specify which version we chose to believe came closer to actuality. Result: Mark and I needed to drive Alex to school each morning and retrieve him in the afternoon, not a favorite occupation on the "Make Time For" chart. One rainy morning a student pulled the fire alarm at the school, forcing the students to be assigned waiting spaces in the parking lots, stalling the drop off lines, causing untold confusion and delays, making everyone late for everything by about an hour. My wonderfully patient husband who never raises his voice or gets upset, calmly looked over at Alex in the passenger seat and said, "If you get kicked off the bus again, I will have to kill you." In jest, of course, but Alex, never hearing anything like this from Dad before, said, "Okay, Dad, I get it." I just chuckled when I heard about it, thinking that even after 28 years of marriage, there are still some surprises every day. It was decided around the table that evening that if the bus privileges were revoked ever again, the expectation would be that said student would be hoofing it to the school on his own two feet...a full two miles each way each day. The thing about parenting teenage boys is that you are full of optimism...like this threat would actually maybe work in some way. Also as a parent, you realize your chances are pretty slim on most issues most days. People always say, "Oh these are the types of things you laugh about in the future." Bring it on...I hope they are right. Maybe some year, long down the road, when we are gathered around the table with "remember when" Alex stories...well, maybe. Until then, it may be best to not rest too often or close the eyes too tightly.