Hitting Pay Dirt While Snooping

As I have mentioned before I am one of those parents who do not believe children need or deserve privacy or space. Hell No! They can get all that when they get a place of their very own. In saying that since I am raising two teens and a preteen I conduct random searches. What am I searching for? Well anything. Drugs, alcohol, love notes, letters from teachers that never made it to me etc. My kids have never done drugs or alcohol as far as I know but if they ever start I wanna be all over it as early as possible. So Sunday while the boys were outdoors I did my semi-quarterly search. In that search I found my son Marlon's Journal. He is turning 13 next month. He is also the pumpkin who shot his teeth out with a stapler, you can read about that here.

I began reading his journal. In there he wrote about Valentines day. Here's what I read:
"This year on Valentines day it is my mom who is my Valentine. I don't care what people say about that. I know it's weird but my mom deserves to be my valentine and here's why,
My mom sets a good example for me and my siblings. She always puts her kids first and herself last. She is nice and kind. People say she is pretty and lots of people like her. My mom does all the things a mom should do. She is very helpful and works hard. I am really glad that she is my mom. Some moms do not care, but my mom does. She is mostly nice but can get really tough when she has to. I know one day a girl will be my valentine but she will have to beat my mom for space in my heart. My mom is my Valentine."
I know right? Sweetest thing ever. I also read in that same journal that his best memory of the past year was the Superbowl party I threw for him and his brothers. I thought it was a bit of a flop because I envisioned a few of their friends coming but they both said they just wanted to spend time with family? Weird huh? And apparently it made a huge positive impact on him so I guess the $100+ dollars I spent on snacks and decor weren't a waste. He also wrote about the stapler incident. Here's an excerpt from that:
"I did something dumb. I wanted to see if a staple would go into my teeth so I stapled them but they broke. When my mom came home she was pissed off big time but I didn't care because it hurt so bad. I hate staplers and do not even wanna staple paper ever again!"
So this time when I snooped it was great! I think I may even skip the next inspection just because they make me so proud! There are few moments when you're kids are teens that are priceless in a positive way. So I will cherish this forever.