Fifteen

 Little late on the draw here but it's not yet been a month since this boy turned 15 so we are still in range for a birthday post, right?

This baby face boy is fifteen years old.  Here we are so quickly.  All those long nights, all of those short years.

At fifteen, Jack is almost as tall as his dad, with broad shoulders and long arms and a mop of increasingly curly hair. He's also increasingly personable, emerging out of the fog of early adolescence with a wry sense of humor and sweet, gangly hugs.

He's joined the Heights High golf team and now golf is his new thing.  As unchanging as that corner-of-the-mouth-dimpled smile of his, he continues to throw himself whole-heartedly and singlemindedly into his current interests. He spends his days researching gear and practicing his swing with his new golf net in the backyard and I just love him. 

In addition to all the golfing, he's swimming with the Tigersharks club team, taking AP U.S. history, pre-calc and engineering, and spending many hours a day gaming online.  So, a busy kid!   He gets tired and grumpy easily these days, here in the start-of-the-year transition, but he's not complaining  and he's getting it done.

At fifteen, this son of mine does not have that much to say to his mom- but always accepts a hug and says "I love you too."  Never a big over-sharer about his day, he prefers to talk about money management and what he is planning to purchase.  Want someone to find you the best deal on the best quality item within your budget?  Jack's your guy. He is wokring hard on spending every penny he earned at his summer job-- yet he can be very frugal. 

He continues to be close to his wonderful friend group, going strong since seventh grade.  They do pretty frequent overnights and golf outings together and tomorrow they'll be going to the Homecoming football game (the stuff high school memories are made of, right there!)  But I don't think any of them are going to the homecoming dance- as far as I know none of them have started dating anyone. This is really fine with me as there will plenty of time for all of that in the future-  and just because *I* went to each and every formal dance in my high school career does not mean my kids need to do the same.  I just hope he ends up going to one *sometime*, though, because I want to see my handsome boy all dressed up. He's always looked great in a button-down. 

Just so grateful to be the momma of this remarkable young man.