Look at me Mom, I can fly!

There is an incredible feeling of helplessness and fear that sets in when you listen to a voice mail from your child 200 miles away telling you that he has lost his phone and is trying to figure out what he should do. More fear sets in when you realize there is absolutely no way to make contact with him because as he stated on his voice mail, "I borrowed some "random" guy's phone". As you listen to his voice mail again you begin to hear in the darkest corners of your mind, the sounds of a high speed train on the express track to a nervous breakdown. The "what ifs" quickly begin their assault on your mind as the voices in your head get louder and louder; "Oh my goodness. He is just a baby. How could you let him do this?". This was the situation I found myself in during Bo's most recent trip to New York city; a trip he took alone. Both Bo and I felt confident that he could do this. He could handle money, hail a cab (he had even been instructed on what the proper tip was), had memorized all of the important addresses of his agent, acting coach, etc. could maneuver his way through the subway system, knew the location of every White Castle in the city, and lastly, he carried the one item I was dependent upon to keep me sane about the entire idea of his traveling alone; his cell phone. Without that in his possession, I was certain he would be swallowed up by the big, bad city of New York, never to be heard from again. But that didn't happen.

What did happen was that my son exhibited some resourcefulness above and beyond what I had expected of him. After I received the voice mail from random guy's phone, I was then contacted by my husband who said that he had just heard from Bo. He called from a payphone to tell his father that he was okay and trying to figure out what to do about the situation. What was my first thought upon hearing that bit of information? He used a WHAT? Who uses a payphone in the 21st century? Heck. I didn't even realize he actually knew what one was or better still, how to use it. Within a half hour of the payphone call, I began receiving text messages from him telling me he was at the train station waiting to board his train, which by the way was now delayed by 2 hours. But how was he texting me without his cell phone? As fate would have it, he had brought his I Touch with him that day.  He found a place with wifi, accessed a free text app, and voila. Ingenious! I was amazed at his ability to think with such clarity during what had to be a very stressful situation.

Some time around midnight, his train finally pulled into the station and a weary and thoroughly exhausted Bo exited the train.  There seemed to be something very different about him though. After listening to him tell the story, it became apparent that he learned something rather important about himself that day; that when life through him a curve ball, he was more than capable of catching it.  I can only imagine what this knowledge has done for him.  So, rather than get upset at the loss of his expensive new phone, I quickly chalked it up as a small price to pay for such a valuable lesson learned. I taught him one more lesson that night. I sent a quick text off to "random" guy thanking him for allowing my son to use his phone. New York isn't such a big, bad city after all. :-)