When They Turn 18

     Augie, Strawbabies, Rice P P's, Glaskez, E-luh-luh, Tonk Engine, G'Mama, the Big Angels and the Little Angels, J'wans, The Red, Asheetah, Chocolates fundraiser, Dale Earnhardt, Thunderhill Raceway, Pontius Pilate, Thumb tack in chair, bottle bombs and Iggy Smudge.
     My baby turns 18 today. It's hard to believe. Time went way too fast. Yesterday I was walking him into his kindergarten class and a couple of days ago I watched him get his high school diploma. I didn't cry. I started to, but I had a cowbell so I just rang it harder and my sister Michelle turned on her hand held light show and it made us laugh. Whew! It was a close one though. If I would have started crying, I would have never stopped.
     So every time I felt the water works coming on I would yell someones name. GO Todd! Ring the cowbell. GO Megan! Ring the cowbell. YOU ROCK Indy! Ring the cowbell. I've already been deemed a 16 year old trapped in an old body by my son. "Indy your mom is cool," he says his friends say. So the other parents weren't surprised at my sudden outbursts of names and noise. My kid learned long ago, just go with it and it will be fun and not embarrassing.
     All kids have names for their things and their own stories. They are precious and priceless, especially when they're learning to talk. These are a few of my son, Indy's from baby to now.   
     Augie is Indy's stuffed lamb that was given to him when he was three months old. He carried him everywhere for years. He gave it that name. We have no idea where he came up with it. There's not a whole lot left of Augie now, but he still exists.
     More of Indy's words and stories:
     Strawbabies - what Indy called strawberries
     Rice P P's - Rice Crispies
     Glaskez - how Indy pronounced the word glasses
     E-luh-luh - the number 11
     Tonk Engine - Thomas the Tank Engine (Indy decided that saying all that just took too much time so he condensed it.).
     G'Mama - what he called my mother
     The Red - what Indy called blood when he would cut himself.  "Mom, the red's coming out. Will you fix it?" 
     Asheetah - the name of one of Indy's stuffed animals. He named one of our cats that name too. Have no idea where he got it.
     J'wans - the scary wild boar-looking creatures that came in through the electrical sockets. They had red glowing eyes.
     The Big Angels and the Little Angels - When Indy had learned to talk pretty well, around age three, he told me this story: "When it rains hard, the big angels throw down the water," gesturing with his hands throwing something down hard. "When it rains soft the little angels throw down the water," gesturing with his hands throwing something lightly.
     The Chocolates Fundraiser - There once was a third grade fundraiser...Indy didn't do fundraisers well, bless his little heart. So I did the majority of them. This particular one was wrapping paper, chocolates, nuts, confectioner's candies, etc. Indy thought it was all wrapping paper though. I gave Indy the money and order form to turn in to his teacher. In a couple of weeks the orders came in and Indy's teacher handed out the boxes to the kids to take home and distribute. Curious, Indy looked in his box. On top was a box of chocolates. Indy thought it was a reward for selling stuff so he and one of his little friends ate almost the entire box. He brought the big box home and I opened it up. I got out the order form to put the orders together. I grabbed the first box of chocolates and noticed it was almost empty.
"Indy! Come here.What happened to this box of chocolates? Do you know?"
"I ate them." 
"You ate them? This was part of someones order."
"I thought it was a reward for selling stuff!"
"You ate the fundraiser."
"I hate fundraisers!" he stormed off to his room
Luckily, I had bought a box of the same chocolates and so there was another box to fill the order.
     Dale Earnhardt - was Indy's favorite NASCAR driver. When Indy was seven, we bought tickets to the then Winston Cup NASCAR race at Texas Motor Speedway. Indy was very excited about getting to see Earnhardt race live. Unfortunately, Earnhardt was killed in a crash a month before our race and Indy never got to see him race. He still got to experience a NASCAR race and take a picture next to his second favorite driver Jeff Gordon's car. Indy became a huge Jeff Gordon fan after that.
     Thunder Hill Raceway - The local stock car race track where Indy and I spent many Saturday nights at the races.
     Pontius Pilate - Of course we know who that is. But during one of our prayers at church, Indy makes fun of the way I say it because he says I say it with a heavy southern accent.
     Thumb Tack In Chair - Ring Ring! "Ms. Guest?"
"Yes."
"This is the assistant principal at the Jr. High. I have Indy in the office. He put a thumb tack in a boy's chair and the boy sat on it."
"What?" What happened? Say that again!"
He repeats what he said.
"Indy? Indy did that? Are you sure it was Indy? He's never been in trouble in his life! Are you sure it was Indy? Indy? Really? For sure? For real? Indy?"
"I'm speechless. This is totally out of character for Indy."
There just has to be something more to this, I thought.
Sure enough, the kid did it on a dare. The trouble instigator, I've now dubbed Thumb Tack Kid and/or Mr. $30, dared Indy to do it for $30. And no. He never gave Indy the $30. Not that he wanted to, but Indy was not allowed to hang out around that kid again.
     Bottle Bombs! -  Fast forward three or four years to high school. Indy's dad (we're divorced) has to go out of town to cover Hurricane Ike. It was his weekend to have Indy. He thinks it's ok for Indy to stay by himself the entire weekend at his house while he's gone. After all, his girlfriend is only a few doors down and she will be there if Indy needs anything. I think this is a really bad idea. I don't think he's old enough and I was worried about him eating right. I just didn't like this idea at all. But the two of them were all gung-ho about it so I went along with it, reluctantly.
The weekend went off without a hitch. Then Indy came home from his dad's a few hours early. He walks in the door and before he even had the door closed he said, "I made a bomb and the cops came."
"Funny. Have you had dinner?"
"No, really Mom. I made a bomb and the cops came."
"Uh huh. Have you eaten?"
"Mom! Really. I made a bomb and the cops came."
"What? You did what?"
"I made a bottle bomb."
"What is a bottle bomb?
"It's a plastic soda bottle. You put tin foil in it and toilet bowl cleaner and then it blows up."
"What on earth possessed you to do that? That doesn't sound like you at all, Indy! What the hell!"
"I saw it on the Internet and thought I would try it. It was really loud and the neighbors called the cops."
"O dear God! It's a wonder they didn't arrest you for terrorism!"
I few moments went by and I was thinking, boy will be boys. I'll bet that was pretty cool though, watching the chemical reaction and then the explosion. A science experiment in the back yard.
"I did it twice."
"You made two of them? "
"Yeah."
"What did the cops do?"
"They talked to me and told me it was really dangerous. Someone could have gotten hurt. And don't do it again."
"Yes, Indy, it is dangerous. It's also a 'boys will be boys' thing to me too. So, I'm not going to punish you for this. But what if something would have gone wrong and you got hurt. With no one around you could have laid there for hours. Please don't do that again, especially by yourself.
And that's when guilt overwhelmed the boy.
"I wasn't alone."
"What? Who else was there?"
He mumbled someones name under his breath.
"Who?"
He mumbled an indiscernible name again.
"Who Indy?"
"Thumb Tack Kid," he blurted out.
"O My God! I knew it. I knew this was not something you would do on your own. I don't know what possessed you to hook up with that kid after all this time? But the two times you have gotten in trouble in your life has been with that kid. Making the bomb I could overlook. But hooking up with that kid again...YOU'RE GROUNDED!"
     Iggy Smudge - Michelle has nicknamed Indy, Iggy.  At graduation he was wearing his senior shirt that they all signed. Michelle asked him if his name was on there and he replied pointing, "Yeah, it's that smudge right there." Michelle promptly said Iggy Smudge! And thus, Iggy Smudge was born.
     A new era begins now as Indy gets ready to enter college. It is bittersweet. I'm very happy Indy has graduated but there are many things I will miss about the school years. And I will miss some of Indy's friends as well, who are going off to the military. 
     A mother's kiss never leaves her son's cheek.  
     IGGY SMUDGE FOREVER!