Leaving the economy aside for a moment....

I find myself contemplating some of the best parts of my life, that have not one thing to do with the state of the world these days.

I've believed for years that the very best parts of my life are my three boys. I can't explain how I managed to have three such special people enter my life almost twenty years ago but I did. They are each, on his own, quite amazing and wonderful.

The other night I spent a precious, unbelievable moment with one of sons, whom I was entreating to please, please get over the "Senior-itus" and finish his high school career on a high note...well, at least on a higher note than he's been playing lately.

Without going into the many complex and unhappy details surrounding the circumstances my son finds himself in these days, suffice it to say his social life has been somewhat curtailed lately. After discussing the next several weeks of schoolwork, that will, my hand to god, end up in a delightful graduation night of celebration and yes, a bit of relief for all of us, I tried to sweeten the deal a little. Maybe having a "date night," maybe having some time out of the house to have some fun would encourage one more quarter of hard work. The fact is that the "grounding" he's endured for several weeks has resulted in him spending almost no time with his girlfriend, or any friends for that matter. Tanisha is either the most patient young woman on the planet or she and my son have found that the wonders of texting, phone time and Facebook are reasonable substitutes for dates or spending time together. (Or they're finding time together and I'm unaware of it - which may well be the case.)

Regardless, I dangled the "date night" carrot hoping for good things. He looked pleasant enough, agreeable enough to the notion, although, surprisingly, not overjoyed. I said, "Jeez! You don't look very excited! Don't you think Tanisha would like to spend an evening out with her boyfriend??"

In what will go down as a historic moment in my life, his lukewarm response to my offer became clear. "O-o-o-oh-h-h-...I thought you meant I'd have a date night with you! I thought you meant that you and I would go out for dinner or something...."

Thank you, God. Thank you for a son who not only imagined I would dangle an offer of an evening in my company as some kind of fun-filled option, he actually considered it and didn't outright reject it. And God bless him for that. I'm thrilled with his lukewarm response if that's the case. THRILLED.

I don't need to tell you the excitement meter increased considerably when he learned a real date night was his reward for good work.

Here's the thing. Nothing else needs to happen here. Not really. I'm going to live on this moment for at least a couple of weeks - the realization that somewhere along the line, I find myself in the amazing situation of having helped raise an almost 18-year-old son who wasn't quite horrified or even the least dismayed about the prospect of spending an evening with his mother.

WOW. As my friend and fabulous writer Amy Krouse Rosenthal says, MOM is really just WOW turned upside down. She's right.