James and Lewis

I have always considered that I want our home to be somewhere where James and his friends want to be.

Better that than hanging around street corners making a nuisance of themselves.

James' friend Lewis stays over fairly regularly on Friday nights. He is a lovely young man and he seems to be very comfortable spending time with us as well as James.

We all went out for a meal tonight at our local Indian restaurant which we love. A double celebration - our anniversary and a slightly early birthday meal for James.

James and Lewis were entertaining as a double act but also managed to balance that with giving Corin and I time to talk to each other.

We ate well, had a lovely couple of hours and to be honest, it was a perfect end to what has been a frantic week that has left me, many times, at the point of tears (in fact, today, I had to hide briefly whilst I let a few tears of frustration drop down my face).

We came home and spent a few minutes out in the back garden with the binoculars, showing Lewis Jupiter, Mars, the moon and a very well timed satellite.

Despite a couple of moments of teenage misjudgement in recent months, I know that I am lucky to have a pretty sensible teenage son and that his friends are young people that I know are good for him. Long may it continue.