Is there such a thing as a wonderful teenager? Yes. I have two living in my home. The two of them are so different that at times I feel as if I'm living with "The Odd Couple", but they are both, none the less, amazing young men.

First, there is my sixteen year old son. This young man has been through a lot in his childhood. The most traumatic thing that happened was that his little brother was diagnosed with cancer at the beginning of the year 2004 and died later that year. As if that wasn't enough for a child (age thirteen at the time) to have to watch, his father couldn't cope with the situation of a dying child and became, for lack of a better word, "lost". He got into drugs to become numb and wasn't around when all of us needed him the most. His father, still to this day has not recuperated. He had done emotional and monetary damages to us and his extended family. Essentially, my son lost his father, as he once knew him. My son lost his father (and best friend) and his little brother (and best friend) all in the same year. I've never seen a more supportive child during this time. My son stayed with his brother for about twelve hours out of every day. He took some time off to go play baseball or football with the neighborhood kids, but he took care of his brother as much as he possibly could in the best way he knew how. He tried his best to just treat him normally, including teasing him as he often did before the cancer struck.

Now at the age of sixteen, he has turned into a somewhat responsible teen. True, he doesn't clean his room very often and I have to get after him about his homework, but if there were an emergency, he's the one I would count on to be the "fast thinker". He's also one of the most loving people I've ever met. Not a day goes by that he doesn't tell me how much he loves me and how incredible he thinks I am. He's also a free thinker, which is how I raised him, but the teenaged years are scary and free thinking can be a wonderful thing or a very dangerous thing. He's chosen a healthy path and has learned this from some of his friends' mistakes. Most adults aren't able to learn from the mistakes of others. This is one of the things that makes him most incredible.

As for the second teen living in my house, well let's just say he's just as remarkable as the first. This teen is my fourteen year old future stepson. This child also has had a rough road. In a strange way, his experiences kind of parallel my son's experiences. He lost his mother to similar circumstances as my son lost his father. The same year that he, his father and his older brother moved out, he lost his brother (and hero) to the Marine Corp. It's not the same as a death in the family, but he was inseparable with his big brother and very worried about him being in the service, especially with the conflict in the Middle East.

This teen is the most gentle soul I've ever met. He's mortified anytime he upsets anyone or hurts anyone's feelings. He'd much rather think of the feelings of others than of himself. He also shows incredible responsibility with his school work. Since he says he doesn't want to go to college, I haven't figured out his motivation, but he spends hours every night making sure that he's prepared for every class and he tries his hardest in everything he does. He even tries to do as much extra credit as possible. School doesn't come easy for him, but he gets very good grades because he works so hard.

Learn more about this author, Nicole Williams.
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