Teacher Phone Call

My son is 15. Rarely, if ever, does he talk about peers, classmates or any other type of social acquaintance from school, camp, the neighborhood or anywhere except his brother.

Yesterday, I got the surprise of my life. A call from one of his teachers asking my permission to move Jackson's seat in class. Normally, he sits up front because his attention can wander - especially if the topic is a chore or something that doesn't involve computers, but this was a computer class. I had no idea what was going on, so I asked.

It turns out that my son wanted to "sit next to a friend" so he asked the teacher (nine times in 20 minutes) if his seat could be moved. I cannot explain how overjoyed, pensive, excited and skeptical I was all at the same time.
Normally, my son keeps entirely to himself. He will occasionally related stories of classroom antics to me or describe the odd behaviors of his classmates. But never has he said anything that connects the word 'friend' and himself in any way. I'm sure this is in part because he's been hurt. He has tried to be friends with others only to be ridiculed and relentlessly teased once he was in close social proximity. Kids are so mean! Because of this - he stays clear. It's a practical response.

I hope he's not being set up again, but I'm so proud of him for trying again. He's so much stronger than I ever was at that age.