Boy or Man #SOL17 Day 4

I am participating in the Slice of Life Story Challenge (SOLSC; #SOL17) 

hosted by Two Writing Teachers. 

Each day for the month of March I will be posting a "Slice of Life". 

Please feel free to stop back and check out my other posts here.

My oldest is 12.  Last I checked, that's still a kid! So where did this little man come from?

Twice this weekend I have had complete strangers comment to me after having an interaction with this boy. How impressive he is; how it seemed like they were interacting with an adult; how I have a great kid. Yep...I knew that part! He IS a great kid and really I couldn't be more proud of him! And yet, somehow there is more...every time I hear this type of comment!

Last night we went out to dinner. My boys went in to get us a table while I worked on waking up little sister who'd fallen asleep on the way. we walked in and the gentleman at the front desk said, "Are you with, M--? He's incredible! I thought I was dealing with a grown adult!"

Today, M went to a community leadership training that he signed up for. He didn't know anyone else going and it was not specifically for youth, but he was excited to go. He wanted to grow his leadership skills and give back to his community (the goals of every 7th grader, right?!). It turns out, the session was (as I'd feared) him along with a group of adults...no other teenagers or kids! And yet, I got a text midway through that said, "This is great! I'm having lots of fun!" When I went to pick him up, he was escorted out by a gentleman who works at a local church. He relayed to me that at the start of the session, they assumed my son was just someone's kid who was dragged to the meeting. But, he continued, after they started talking, he was surprised that had some great ideas- in fact M had an idea the group voted on and decided to pursue for our community. They want him to continue coming to their sessions (that was his plan!) and to continue sharing any ideas for the planning process. The kids gentleman didn't want to just give my 12 year old his phone number which was why he came to speak with me, but he also wanted to tell me how impressed they were with him and that I should be very proud.

Yep! Proud for sure! But, really when did my little boy grow into this bold, well-spoken, idea-filled grown up?!