For those of you who know more of the story of JB and our history with him, you'll truly understand the significence of this post. His birthday was on the 23rd, and he turned 19. He's been in our lives for 15 months now. He continues to be cancer free. His next check-up is in January.
From the beginning his relationship with our family has been a push-pull kind of thing. He wanted what our family had to offer, but after having been burned so many times in the last few years, it was hard for him to trust. So he'd often pull close to us, then panic and push us away.
We frequently heard from him that he didn't need any help, he didn't need anybody or anything. Three times he left our house in a fury because he didn't want to follow our rules, but he always came back.
He came over the other night to pick up the birthday present I had for him, and HE gave ME a hug and thanked me for trying to take care of him. It's the first time he's ever shown/initiated affection towards me. Occasionally in the past he'd tolerate me hugging him or ruffling his hair, but that was about it. His Thank You meant ALOT to me.
Then a few nights later, he made me mad. Typical teenage boy being selfish kind of thing. He sent me a text that he was sorry he'd hurt my feelings, and that he knew he messed up alot but he didn't do it on purpose.
Wow, has he really grown up alot this last year. I'm sure he's still going to have bumps in his road. But I sure am proud of how far he's come.
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