Feeding My Soul

Last month, I was brought a Kia Soul loaner to travel for the summer in. Full disclosure - I was not a fan of the boxy shape of the Soul, and well, I didn't think that I would really be that into it. Even when it pulled up in front of my house after I had just gotten back from a Kia immersion trip in San Diego, I was still a bit reserved. Listen, I'm anything but a rubber stamper of vehicles. I wanted to review the Sedona or the Optima in general, but here I am, on my fourth week or so with the Soul, and I'm kind of falling in love, dare I say. That isn't what this post is about though. It's about finding a path to the bridge to the heart of one of my children. Because, I'm not anything but opaquely transparent. 

My teenager took this picture. This was the start of a second week of wonderfulness, and little did I know that in a couple of days, we'd be in our first full blown power struggle. Yes, maybe I'm being a little bit more dramatic than I should, but it's the way that I felt. Like my life was titled after one of those click-bait articles, "Mom's world gets rocked by this action from her teenage son," yet, there wasn't a happy resolve at the end. For now. Teenage years are hard, yo. 

No, I'm not becoming a grandmother, so you can go somewhere with that. I'm talking about rocked with rebelliousness and just general teenage behavior. But you know, MY kid, my wonderfully handsome, intelligent teenager wouldn't, couldn't, COULD NOT POSSIBLY make me feel some type of way about him in such a small span of time. Yet here we were. So, in order to curb that, I hopped in the car. I hopped in the car, sometimes alone, sometimes with my entire family, but that car has had all of us in it at some time, and it's the first time in a long time that we've spent this much time together. You see, usually, my teenager is off by himself. We are no longer the group of folks that he wants to hang with, and I remember feeling that way, but having parents that wouldn't let me just BE. And every fiber of my being fights against that because I remember just wanting to BE. However, sometimes in the BEING, we become lonely, and our thoughts get the better of us. You know? I don't want my kid to be alone with his thoughts too long because I just don't. It's ROUGH being a kid these days, what with social media and screenshots, and just a general spirit of MEAN going around. 

Or maybe, I just don't want to be alone with my thoughts. Who knows. 

I love my kid. I love my kid with every fiber of my being, and I am not a mother that will just chalk up this recent flip in behavior to just being a teen. My gut tells me it's not. So, I'm going to follow that, and I'm going to use this car that we have as a mobile therapy of sorts. I'm taking the time to just - go for it. To establish a relationship with the teenager - AGAIN. 

It's weird how much time I spend in cars, and how much I didn't realize how many healing sessions go down in them. This month's healing sessions happened to be in a Kia Soul. Fitting, huh? It's also weird that I'm trusted with telling you all about the Kia Soul, but now I'm telling you how I went soul searching in one. I mean, I'll have a proper review up for you soon, of course, because that's what I do. 

The Kia Soul has taken us to eat nitrogen made ice cream at the Museum of Science and Industry. Despite his face, he had just a good a time as the littles did. I miss that about him, and I know that all too soon (in a year or so) I won't have him around because of college. Egads! 

All I know is, I didn't expect the addition of a second car to be a calming spot in my life this summer. It seems REALLY odd to some, and at this point, I don't care. I'm all about keeping my life, and the life of my family full of quality. And if we have to stay in a car all summer to do it, then so be it. 

Thanks to Kia and DriveShop for the ongoing loan of this Kia Soul