It's hard being a mother.....

and not for the reasons that first come to mind. Besides the pain of childbirth and then the dramatic events like colic, teething and illnesses, there are the things that are so hard to deal with as a mother. It's the emotional pain that we go through when we see or hear when one of our children are going through something.

Jerry and I were talking today about my friend Terri's son, K. Terri passed away in August and K is her oldest, same age as my Jerry. So we're in the truck talking today about K and how he is handling things. My Jerry is one of the kindest kids I know and he was so sweet and kind in what he was saying about K. Hoping that K is getting help and that he's not in a lot of pain and that it gets better for him and that nothing happens to him.

Then my Jerry tells me how he ran into K a few weeks ago. Jerry was taking a ride on his bike and ran into K and a few other boys that he used to go to grade school with. My son stops to talk to these guys and they are just nasty to him. Jerry said they were kind of laughing at him because he was out riding his bike. Now, it's not like he was riding around the block singing to himself, he was on his way to the park that has bike trails that is right down the street from us. But he took a few minutes to stop and say hi to a bunch of guys that he knew for 8 yrs of his life. K was one of the guys. Jerry said that K was acting all tough and kind of weird so he just said bye to them and rode off.

Now, I don't think Jerry would have told me this story since it happened weeks ago. But he told me because he said that he noticed K. was kind of "acting out" and hanging out with kids that maybe he shouldn't be and he figured it was because of what he was going through with losing his mother.

Here these kids are being jerks and there's Jerry being kind and thoughtful even though they weren't being that way toward him.

What makes kids be so mean sometimes? What makes them feel like they can treat people this way? It's sad really.

And even though the way Jerry is makes me so proud, it's still really hard being a mom and knowing that your child has to go through this because some other kids aren't as kind.