If you're going to be able to look back on something and laugh about it, you might as well laugh about it now. (Marie Osmond)

I had a message on my phone this morning. It was one of those calls that every parent of a teenager dreads. "Mom, everything's okay but I screwed up and the police want to talk to you."

Let me go back a moment and say that I left my son at home alone. He's 19, but very mature and trustworthy. He's been working full-time for a year now, and he knows and follows my house rules. Besides which, he's a hermit. By that I mean he has two friends and otherwise keeps pretty much to himself. So it's not like he's going to be having wild parties or getting into trouble. His dad lives half an hour away, so there is an adult he can turn to if needed.

What I totally forgot was that even though my son has two friends, those two friends have lots of friends. And somehow all those friends ended up at my house for a party. The police got involved because of the noise. (I've not had any evidence or complaints of alcohol involved, so I'm trusting my son when he says it was only noise. Nevertheless, I'm upset that he allowed a situation to happen that involved the police at all.

I won't be taking any more trips that leave him home alone for a while.