he lied to me

Last night N, my 15 and 11/12ths year old, lied to me. I knew it at the time. It was disappointing. It was quite accidental that I was witness to this lie. He and M were laughing loudly in the hallway upstairs at midnight. I went up to shoo them to bed and provide the requisite lecture. While I was busy sounding as maternal as I could, his cell phone rang. He looked at the number and said, “What the heck?” He turned off the ringer. It rang again a minute later and then a third time. “I don’t know who the heck would be calling me. I don’t know that number.”

He isn’t a very good liar, or maybe I am just a perceptive enough mother to catch him even if he is. I knew he was not ignorant to the caller’s details. Still, I let it slide. I mandated lights out and sleep before wandering back to the computer to reverse look up the number – resolving to pay closer attention, hurt by the lack of faith in me his dishonesty seemed to reveal.

This morning, he sat at the table ready for school at the prescribed hour – an hour we have missed every day this week. He looked up at me with an air of extreme repentance, “Mom, I have to tell you something. That phone call last night wasn’t an accident. I knew who it was from. It was a girl named S. We met in an online game, and I didn’t want you to think it was silly because we really like each other. She is a Christian. She is in AP History and English and wants to be a meteorologist. I’m really sorry I didn’t tell you the truth.”

Hmmmm.

Let me tell you, there were and are a lot of things going through my mind, but first and foremost, I have to say I am awfully proud of him for telling me the truth. My goodness he’s growing up all of a sudden.