On the First Day

I was gonna write this sweet, sad thing about our ride home from the hospital yesterday afternoon and how I made a Warren Zevon playlist and how we sang "Werewolves of London" and "I Was in the House When the House Burned Down" and I think you would've really dug it.

Instead, I need to tell you what happened when we got home. Both kids lit up (no, not that kind) when they saw each other and for me, there's no better sound in the world than when they're laughing together. After a few minutes, my older son came downstairs, gave me a kiss and said that one of his friends was coming to pick him up. I then went out to run a few errands and that was when the phone calls started.

I could tell that my older son was agitated as soon as I heard his voice. He said something about how my wife had told one of his girlfriends (who she saw at Bed, Bath & Beyond the other day), that they shouldn't see each other anymore and how that girl went and told his other girlfriend some shit and like in some twisted version of Groundhog Day, both girls weren't talking to him again. And because of my wife not minding her own fuckin' business, he said that he wasn't gonna follow any of the rules that he had just agreed to follow when we did the exit interview at the hospital no less than two hours ago. And no, I'm not making this up.

I called my wife at work and she said that she didn't say what my son thought she had said and then I called my son back and told him that and he became angry at me for taking her side, and said that he wasn't coming home, wasn't gonna take his meds and was gonna get high.

I explained that if he chose to throw everything away, he was going to suffer some harsh consequences this time and we went back and forth until I suggested that maybe one of the girls told the other girl some shit because she was trying to get him all for herself and that maybe he should trust and believe me and his mom more than his girlfriends. Click. Dial tone.

So for the rest of the night, my wife and I zombie-stared at whatever was on TV until we eventually fell asleep. At around 11:30 or so, I heard the front door open and both kids came into the house and went up to their rooms. A few minutes later, I got the following text message from my older son:

I want to apologize. I fucked up on the first day. Mom really pissed me off by talking to my girlfriend and I took it out on you. N e thing you want me to do for you, tell me. Like they said in the hspital, I gotta give back. N I'm on a stronger dose of meds tonight. Jenna is still not talking to me but ur right. Everything can be fixed. I didn't see it b4.

I went into his room and he said that he had just taken his meds, which knock him out pretty quickly. I asked him if he had gotten high earlier and he said that he hadn't. He apologized again and I cut him off. I don't remember what I said after that.