April 1

I'm going to be real: I didn't enjoy being a teenager. I was perpetually stressed over trying to be perfect in school and didn't have a tight group of friends to help keep me grounded. (Or many friends at all, really.) I definitely wasn't part of the cool crowd and although I very much wanted to be seen, fear of rejection kept me firmly tucked inside my shell. I was, bluntly speaking, glad when I turned 20.

So although it makes me sad to see Isaac slogging through 15 like he has been for the past several months, it doesn't really surprise me because I've been there. But I'm also always in search of ways to lift his mood, and I had an opportunity to do so this afternoon when we ventured out to find him a new baseball glove.

He'd been quiet and vaguely sullen for most of the day, but the switch flipped and he was suddenly chirpy and chatty and smiley as he scoured the pegs in search of his prize. And when he finally found it --at the second store we perused-- he glowed.

So for those glowy moments that pierce the darkness that so often seems to enshroud the teenage years, I am very grateful.