Parent Struggles

Paul was reading the details of his rewards when a knock suddenly came from the door of the library. As it opened, Paul was able to see his dad who was smiling at him.

"Hey buddy, Happy Birthday!" Joseph started as he stepped into the room. He closed the door as he entered and then went on directly to his son to give him a big hug.

"Thanks dad." Paul replied while being kind of embarrassed, but nevertheless gave a hug back to his dad. He forgot to mention that his parents are affectionate people too. To be honest, getting a hug really feels great, especially if it's from your friends or family.

After the hug, Joseph carefully looked at his son. It was both a fulfilling and regretful thing to see your son grow up so fast, literally. His son was looking up at him with a smile, his strikingly red hair, which he inherited from him, was being glinted by the rays of the sun. Paul's facial features were a perfect mix of his and his wife's; especially those pair of clear blood ruby eyes, which were a notch darker than Mary's.

Anyhow, he will always feel amazed at how intelligent his son is. Alakazam told him that his son is great at observation, thus could always remember the details that they spoke. The next thing he knows is that Paul suddenly asks about the things they briefly talked about.

These moments are a lot, and Joseph remembered all of them as he has never seen both him, and his wife more flustered than those moments. There was a moment where Paul asked, "Mom, can I expect a sibling? I've heard that dad still can't make love to you because you blame him for the pain you received when I was being born." He paused, then continued. "I think you shouldn't blame dad for the pain, or it would be my fault because I was the one being born." The book where Paul got the information of making love and giving birth was thrown out of trash the next day; Paul got them back again anyway with Gengar's help.

Another moment was, "Dad, I think you need to plan something for mom. I've read that there's a great honeymoon spot at Lilycove City. Just make sure to ask mom's consent if you want to have another baby. Speaking of the topic," Paul then halted for a while to look at me carefully. "Just prepare for protection, ok dad? I know you guys wouldn't like a surprise baby, but I really don't mind having a sibling." He finished with a wink.

An hour after, Joseph and Mary then scouted the library to throw all books that relatively mentions babies and human reproduction, away. Thankfully, Paul was able to stop them with his statement. "What's the point of throwing it out if I already knew the topic firsthand? By the way, those are tome of knowledge, and I hope you wouldn't throw away books without telling me. Okay? mom, dad?" What could the couple respond to that. They nodded carefully after they both saw the helpless look in each other's eyes.

There were a lot of those awkward parent moments for them, as Paul talked to them about a lot. Fortunately, Paul mostly talked about Pokemon. Since having read the Pokemon Encyclopedia, Paul would ask them any question that would come to mind. Most of the time, they were able to answer, however, sometimes, they do not know the answer to the question too. So, Paul would just say it doesn't matter, even though you would find him scouring the library for books that could answer his question.

Raising Paul was easy, as he behaved like a mini adult; but it was also hard, as he could be difficult sometimes, especially moments where they don't know what to do or reply on Paul's daily conversations with them. It was a bittersweet feeling, seeing Paul grow up so fast. Thinking of it now, Joseph felt laughing at their awkward parenting moments for the past few months.

After reminiscing about the past few months, Joseph then looked at his front to see Paul. He wasn't there where he left him. Knowing his son, he checked over the rows of bookshelves until he finally saw his son at the third to the last bookshelf. He was putting back books into their proper places. Joseph remembered that memory of how they were so speechless at their son, who could catalogue the books from the library. Alakazam answered them a moment after; that Paul asked her for help on how to find books in the library, which he learned about quite quickly.

Joseph smiled at the memory as he went towards his son. "Hey bud, why did you leave the lounge?" He asked. Paul looked up towards his dad who was crouching down, and back to the bookshelf as he replied. "You looked like you were recollecting something. I thought you were busy, so I took the initiative to leave and brought back the books I read back to their places."

Being used to his son's frankness, Joseph just smiled. He then continued the conversation. "Sorry, I was just remembering something. Anyway, your mom is waiting for you downstairs. She prepared your favorite food, and we have a surprise waiting for you after the meal." Seeing his son reply with a nod, Joseph straightened his back. He then took the initiative to help his son. "Let me fix the books back into their places. Just go ahead and go downstairs to talk to your mom. She's so excited today." He finished while getting the books from the ground and continued his son's work.

Knowing that his dad would continue his work, Paul just said thanks then directly walked out of the library. He continued his strides on the way downstairs and stopped when he reached the door of the dining room. Opening the glass doors, Paul was greeted with a room full of balloons and crepe paper. He was touched that his mom tried to decorate the place just for his birthday.

He walked towards his mom who was putting down dishes on the dining table. He greeted her with a hug, specifically her legs, while taking the initiative to speak. "Hi mom! The place looks great. Thank you."

Mary looked down to see her one and only son. Putting down the dish she was holding at the table, she crouched down as she embraced her son. "You're always welcome dear. Always." She remembered something before adding, "Remember to thank the other guys too. Gengar and Alakazam helped on the balloons while Honchkrow and Gliscor helped out with the crepe papers." Her son replied with a nod.

Was it because it's Paul's birthday today? Mary felt crying out of nowhere. Paul, feeling the sensation of tears dropping at his neck, took a step back to see his mom. Mary didn't let him and just stayed silent to continue the hug. After a while, she began to speak. "I'm okay. I'm just so happy that you're here, with us. I could never ask for more, as I am always thankful for having such a wonderful son."

Paul rolled his eyes in reply, "Mom, I'm just turning a year old. You make it seem like I'm going to start my Pokemon journey at my 10th birthday."

Mary stopped breathing for a few seconds before replying. "You want to be a Pokemon Trainer?"

"Isn't that a given?" Paul hesitantly answered back.

"Of course not! You could be a doctor, a researcher, a breeder, or a coordinator even! It's also okay if you just want to be a businessman. Is it really necessary to be a trainer?" Mary cautiously questioned.

Paul then furrowed his brows as he took a step back to look at his mom. She has slight red eyes and nose because of crying, while her face looked scared and hesitant. "What's the problem of being a trainer, mom?"

Mary tried to speak but she couldn't start. As she sees her son's confused and hesitant face, and knowing the rules of honesty in their family, she spoke what she and her husband thought and spoke about. "It's just that your dad and I talked about your future. As you know, we're trainers, and we know firsthand that it's a very hard and dangerous job. We just want you to have your options, and not directly pick to be a trainer."

"What if I really want to be a trainer?" Paul firmly asked his mom.

Mary carefully replied, "Then you need to convince us that you could be a trainer, that you could take care of yourself, and that you won't be ten when you go on your journey because that's ridiculous. Don't copy other children and enjoy growing up first. If you could convince your dad and I, maybe, just maybe, we would allow you by then."

Paul was stunned. Since his rebirth, Paul had always planned himself to be a trainer, well not immediately, but that's his end goal. Knowing how hesitant and cautious his mom was being, Paul felt the need to reconsider about his plans. He still wants to be a trainer, but it wasn't necessary to take his journey immediately. Maybe he should study a bit longer first before considering on starting his journey. He looked at his mom carefully as he responded. "I'll seriously think about it mom. Just a heads up, I don't plan on not being a trainer, but I will consider on pushing it back until I know that I'm ready. Anyhow, I'm just a year old, and we're years away before I could even legally own a Pokemon."

"I know dear." Mary started. "It's just that we know how smart you are and that eventually you'll consider being a trainer. We just want you to know what your dad and I think about as we don't want you to experience the hardships that we had to get up to this point."

She paused before continuing, "As I could see now, you have a bright future ahead of you and we want you to consider a lot of options as we know you could be great at any of them. Just always remember that we're here for you, got that?"

"I do, mom. Thanks." Paul spoke before he resumed. "I love you, mom."

"I love you too dear. Now let me finish fixing up the table so that we could start your birthday celebration." Mary spoke while kissing her son's forehead.

Paul felt the warm current in his heart and thought to himself while sitting at the table. 'This birthday keeps on getting better and better.'