puberty is awesome....when you are seven

This morning my seven year old came to me triumphantly and said,
"Mom! I have hair in my armpits!"
His elbow was thrust to the sky and I viewed a very nice, very bald,
7 year old armpit.
"Sorry, buddy. You don't have hair under your arms."
He was not put off. "But they stink."
"I don't think so. You just smell like a boy. Why do you want hair under your arms?"
"Because puberty is awesome!"
"Do you know what puberty is?"
"Yes."
"What is it?"
"It's awesome."
"That is because you have never been through it."
"Have you been through it?"
"Yes....yes, I have."
"And I bet it was awesome."
Welcome to my home. Where the raging hormones of puberty are
something that are revered...sought after....and longed for.
Where arm pit hair is the harbinger of manhood.
And arm pit stink? The fragrance of impending adulthood.
This is about the complete opposite response that I had when I was
coming to terms with the changes that puberty brought my way.
My response? Ewwwwwwwww.
Maybe not the healthiest response.
I could have learned a thing or two from my boys about embracing the inevitable.
Another son came home from school one day and told me,
"There is a girl in my class with arm pit hair."
"Bless her heart," I said, "I hope you didn't make her feel bad about it."
He looked at me quizzically and said,
 "No, I told her, "Lucky! I can't wait until I have arm pit hair like you."
Either he crushed her girly soul a little....or made her proud...or maybe both.
So we are embracing the bodily changes here with one son in jr. high, one son on
the cusp of middle school and one son secretly longing for an early onset hormonal imbalance.
I have purchased a wide range of deodorant and air fresheners.
I am awash in a sea of testosterone and manliness.
Come to think of it, it is just about time for a girl's night out over here.
I need a conversation about something other than arm pit hair and puberty.
Even if they are awesome.