Happy One Year Anniversary

It hit me today as I sat in the parked car having a sweet, honest conversation with Alex (as he used words like "incident" in perfect context.  That English!). Here's this beautiful, intelligent, charming seventeen year old boy with a heavy Russian accent and a horrifically painful past, entrusting me with his thoughts, feelings, and hopes.  He's been calling me Mom since we hosted him a year and a half ago, but I suspect that label carries a lot more weight now than it did before.  I truly felt like his mom today, and it felt great.