Here I am with my dh, my firstborn and my youngest.

My oldest child is having the time of his life right now, with his buddies, halfway across the country, in Missouri. It is so strange to be old enough to have a child who can announce that he is going on a road trip 800 miles away and then does it without any planning or shopping or driving on my part. He is out there with his friend from college and his cousin. They are all 18. Here’s my son with his cousin.

They went to see my son’s roommate from GWC near St. Louis and then to see a friend girl (not girlfriend) whose family performs in Branson. She plays the violin there for her family’s show. http://www.hughes-brothers.com/hughes-kids/instrumentalists.html So today I think they are at Silver Dollar City and tonight they will see the Hughes Brothers Show in Branson. My son , the friend girl, and his friend from college all tried out for the same scholarship last year, the Andau Character Prize. I guess tough competition forges strong friendships sometimes. As now they feel compelled to meet in the summer in humid Missouri. They were all counselors the past two weeks at Youth for Freedom and now they are continuing the fun. I am jealous! I want to be there too! (At Branson with the youth, but not in the humidity!)

I had to take this pic with my phone because I had lost my camera last summer at Youth for Freedom (long story, but it’s back now!) so the picture’s not that great, but it shows the three finalists for the Andau last year nervously waiting the announcement of the winner.

So I check Facebook every day to see what’s happening on the trip. I was happy to see that they went to church in Colorado, even though they had a 12 hour drive from Denver to St. Louis on Sunday. The biggest thing that allays my fears about three 18 year old boys traveling together in a car with cell phones is that these young men are youth more than they are teenagers. I know both their moms, my sister-in-law of course, and my other friend, and that these boys have been raised to be responsible young men. Basically, they’ve been raised to be youth and not teenagers.

Being a teenager is a modern American invention, whereas youth is what young people used to be called. Youth take on responsibilities at a young age. Think of John Adams or Joan of Arc, when they were youth. They were not about playing all day, flirting, demanding fun from the latest technology. (I wonder what the latest technology was for them?) Then there’s Joseph Smith. Where would we be if he just wanted to play and not ask the serious questions in life and seek answers. These youth were all about going about preparing for or doing their missions in life. You’ve probably all seen the article Here- the Myth of the Teenager, all about the difference.

Let’s all read it and encourage our children and their friends to be youth, not teenagers. Society will thank you for it!