Do you speak teenager?

By Marijean

When my son was very small, we were frequently tired at the same time. Since yawns are catching, we'd find ourselves "speaking yawn" and giggled over what we could sometimes not understand in a sentence delivered mid-yawn. "What's the matter," we'd say, when the other was perplexed by our sleepy speech, "don't you speak yawn?"

My son, now a driving teenager with a separate life and schedule from my own, has adopted the slack speech of a teen, unwilling to have others overhear and understand what he's really saying.

The other night, he called after band practice, which ended at 9 p.m. He wanted permission to grab ice cream with friends, promising to be home no later than 9:45 p.m. I agreed. It got to be 10 p.m. and he still had not arrived home. He called and delivered a story about long lines and another kid who needed a ride home. It turned out the kid lived much further away than he'd said, and it was taking much longer than planned to get home. He was calling from his friend's house, wisely not trying to call when he was on the road, in the dark.

He knew he was in trouble, despite keeping us in the loop regarding his whereabouts. It was a weeknight, late, and he's a new driver. Plus, statistics have warned us that male drivers do much worse when their passenger is another male. To that point, on his driving instructor's advice, we'd so far only allowed him to have female passengers.

Before he hung up, he said a word I've never heard before. "Ahluhoo." Once I realized that he was trying to tell me, "I love you," my heart warmed and I knew I'd just be glad to see him safe at home.

Marijean is a new "Work It" contributing writer. Read more about her.