Life through the mind of a teenager

I have a guest blogger today! Mason's been working on this for awhile. After this post, he gets his own space and you will be able to find him here...http://masonbmusings.blogspot.com/ 

Hello. My name is Mason Bonn. I am 13 years old and live in Oregon. Now, you might be wondering, How can a teenager have space in his deeply complex brain to write a blog? And what could it possibly be about that appeals to all ages? I certainly don't want to read a blog about middle school girls! Well don't worry. I actually do think about other things than food and girls. Even if it is mostly golf, which, by the way, is a high-contact sport! Your club contacts the ball, your foot contacts the ground, over and over again!  So anyway, while this blog may not be your typical blog, It will (hopefully) answer the decade-old question; What in the world was he thinking?! That’s right, this blog is (mostly) dedicated to explaining what goes on in the mind of a teenager while he sits on the couch with a blank look on his face, staring at the TV. Truth is, it's probably more important than you think.

So, why do I want to write a blog? Well, I had two main motives. The first was my mom's blog, which I've always thought was awesome. I’m constantly pestering her to write a book. (http://wordynurse.blogspot.com/)  The second? It comes from a book my sister lent me. (give me a break here, guys. I get bored on 5 hour car rides.)  In it, a girl pours out her emotions online and receives nothing but positive affirmations. If only the real world was like that. In the real world, everyone's too busy trying to be perfect to care about other people's feelings. I blame social media. Which basically makes me a hypocrite, considering I currently own 2 Instagram accounts. Anyway, back to the point. So I decided to write a blog. Great. Awesome. So what's it about? Oh, right. I can't just have an empty blog. 

So I dug deep and thought, What do I have to tell that people would care about? I’m guessing there aren't enough people out there in the cyberworld that would care about youth golf, and I’m guessing there’s already one devoted to the utter greatness of pizza, so what's left? Oh wait, I know! What if I wrote about Us? Of course by us, I mean the most mysterious, lazy, and least talkative age group of all time. Drumroll please.... Teenagers! This was perfect because every parent who had ever had a child between the ages of 13-19 at some point looked at them and thought, What in the world are they thinking about? And of course it hadn't been done before because, as I already mentioned, teenagers are too busy trying to be perfect, acting mad at their parents or wondering when their next meal is. They don’t have the time to write a blog, and don't want to anyway. Except me. Truth is, I really do love to write, and I think it would be great to share my writing. Anyway, hang with me. I’m new at this. But I know I'll have fun. I just hope you'll get as much pleasure reading my words as I get writing them.

Unbridled Enthusiasm

I had the opportunity to walk with Mason at a golf tournament this past Sunday. I think it's one of my favorite things to do with him right now. I get to walk alongside him for 4+ hours, he is doing what he loves, and he still seems glad to have me there at the end. The tournament was in Washougal - conditions weren't ideal, wind, rain and the occasional sun break. After playing in tournaments all winter, we finally have our system down. I wear my 20 layers and he brings a jacket.

Mason's front nine was the round of his life. He couldn't miss a putt. It was amazing. He usually finishes in the middle of the pack - which is great. But, after 9 he was in second place and first was well within his reach. His enthusiasm is contagious. Mason has always been something of an open book. If he isn't telling you exactly how he feels, he is fist pumping, laughing, smiling, jumping up and down and sprinting. He may be the only kid I have seen sprint on the golf course.

As you may imagine, maintaining this enthusiasm while playing the very focused game of golf don't always go hand in hand. He was able to maintain his position until about hole 14. I felt I could almost see him mentally adding up his score and what he needed to do each hole to win. It seems to me that once you get distracted in golf, it becomes very hard to get that small ball in the hole - and that's what happened with Mason. His excitement and nerves made it very hard to finish out each hole as well. He was still smiling and sprinting on hole 18 but he had fallen several spots.

My friend asked me during the tournament if I would rather have a "too excited" kid or the stressed but focused kid who is able to finish strong. Easy. I pick too excited kid EVERY TIME. This will work out for Mason. He played the best 14 holes of golf he has ever played. He will eventually figure out how to keep his excitement and possibly his energy in check to be able to maintain for 18.

I talk partial responsibility for Mason's "too much." Although not much of a fist pumper or jumper, I am "too much" of a lot of things....too introspective, too careful, too sensitive. Just this week at work I am pretty sure my heart broke wide open from a patient who was reaching the end of his journey and one that was trying to make her story longer. They cried, I cried, and I am going to have to figure out how to sew myself up before I go back to work Saturday. Even though the emotions feel like they can get in the way at times, I still pick too excited and too sensitive every time. I believe that's where the joy is. So, I look forward to the next tournament with my too excited kid and will enjoy every fist pump along the way.